Sonic and the Werehog
by Tashasaurous
Summary: A retelling of Sonic Unleashed: What if, instead of Sonic becoming a Werehog, he encounters a new hedgehog who, along with his new friend named Chip doesn't remember anything? Follow Sonic and his friends, both old and new as he tries to repair the world as well as facing his toughest enemy yet; his fear of the Werehog.
1. Chapter 1: Birth of the Werehog

_**Sonic and the Werehog.**_

**Author's Note: Once again, writer's block hit me and as I very much have no time to begin the other project I wanted to do until most likely next year, and now I've gotten a bit into Sonic the Hedgehog, I'd decided to take the next step of the experiment and do a rewrite of Sonic Unleashed, with some elements burrowed from the Sonic X Anime(but no Chris or Cosmo or Universal Time-Space travel).**

**I do not own Sonic. The franchise belongs to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 1: Birth of the Werehog._

Mobius. A planet full of life of humans and anthropomorphic animals that live in peace and harmony. Yet, not all hearts are pure in this magnificent world, for it also lies great evil and even much darker secrets. One of them is above the planet in a Space Fortress and red colony at this very moment. At the very base was Dr. Robotnik, or commonly known as Dr. Eggman who was laughing evilly as his army of giant robots stood ready to destroy any intruders.

With him in his cockpit were his three robot minions; Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun.

"Hahahahahahaha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!" Eggman cackled evilly. "This is coming along very nicely! Soon, all of Mobius will be mine!"

"Uh, Doctor? I think you might want to hold that thought." Becoe suggeted, sounding rather worried which caught Eggman's attention as the monitor beeped.

"We got company, and not a good one!" Decoe added, pointing out ahead while Bokkun groaned in dismay.

Eggman looked up and through the window to see what his minions were talking about. To his shock, dismay and anger as something had exploded outside in the distance, was a standing figure of a very familiar blue hedgehog, smirking as he stood waiting as the robots sounded the alarm, ready.

He was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Hmph..." Sonic chuckled. '_Foiled again, Eggman._' He thought to himself. This will be a piece of cake.

"Not that irritating hedgehog again!" Eggman growled angrily. Why does that hedgehog always get in the way!? Not wanting any longer and wanting nothing more than to kill the blue hedgehog, the evil scientist quickly made his order. "FIRE!"

The robots did as they commanded, which was exactly what Sonic had been waiting for. As soon as they began to fire, the teenage hedgehog sped off forward and easily dodging the attacks without a single hit. Sonic avoided the cannon shots and laser beams before he began fighting back, taking out the robots with his karate skills and punches he was also excellent at.

"Hyaaaaaah!" Sonic yelled as he kicked another robot in the face before continuing to race forward. As soon as he did, another giant robot attempted to punch him, but he ducked easily and kept running, leaving the other machines to be destroyed by their own cannon attacks.

"Hold still, you blue hedgehog!" Bokkun ranted angrily, and childishly as he, Decoe, Becoe and especially Eggman watched on furiously the closer Sonic got.

"Fine, I'll do it myself!" Eggman growled. "Active the Robot!"

"Yes, Doctor!" Decoe and Becoe replied, just as willing to take out Sonic as their master was.

Sonic continued to make his way towards the colony while avoiding another Robot and taking out the last in the line with ease before he heard a noise and looked up to see his enemy along with three minions inside the cockpit of an approaching much larger giant robot making it's way towards him.

"All right, game on, Eggman!" The blue hedgehog said to himself, smirking. He was ready to take him on. Sonic quickly dodged the robot's blasters with ease and jumped right over the evil egg-shaped man and taunted him with a raspberry.

"You pesky little-!" Eggman growled furiously, only for him, and his three minions to yelp when Sonic attacked the robot before taking off into the colony.

"Come back here and fight like a man, Sonic!" Bokkun yelled irritatedly.

"Activating missiles!" Decoe announced as and Becoe typed down a few key strokes, which had the robot to fire missiles at Sonic who, seeing the attack, quickly dodged and decided to continue running to avoid in getting hit.

"Whoa!" Sonic yelped as one came a little too close for his liking. "Better make this quick!" He said to himself and continued to run into the colony, hoping to find the power source of this place and shut down the entire fleet to save the world.

Eggman was becoming even more angrier while bellowing, "You're not getting away!"

The evil scientist then pushed a button and the Robot's giant arm stretched out so fast that it surprisingly caught up with Sonic who looked back and gasped in shock, and knew that he was in real trouble now. "Whuh-oh!"

Sonic attempted to speed up to escape, but it was too late. The mechanical giant hand grabbed Sonic who cried out and it pulled him back the robot, where Eggman laughed evilly. Sonic struggled to wriggle himself free, but the grip was too strong and he began to panic a little.

The blue hedgehog hissed in pain as the grip on him tightened before Sonic then had an idea. He calmed down and smirked up at his enemies, then closed his eyes as he focused on the one thing he knew that made him unstoppable; the seven Chaos Emeralds as, in his possession, gathered all around him as he concentrated on their powers.

"What!?" Eggman shouted, as he and the minions realized what Sonic was doing. They didn't see this coming.

"Oh no! Not that!" Decoe exclaimed, worriedly.

Becoe gulped scaredly. "I forgot about the Chaos Emeralds...!"

"Crush him!" Eggman yelled, as he tried to have the robot to have the other hand close around Sonic. Unfortunately for the villain, it was already too late, because both hands were shattered instantly and a golden glow had covered Sonic, who had now become Super Sonic, his fur all golden and his eyes turning from emerald green to crimson red.

"Eat this, Eggman!" Sonic declared, as he flew straight through the robot's chest with his increased power, which destroyed it completely. The only thing that remained was the hovercraft Eggman, Bokkun, Decoe and Becoe were in, and boy were the four really terrified now. Sonic made a U-turn and chuckled, ready to finish this.

"Uh-oh!" Eggman gulped as he made his craft fly away. "Time to go!"

"Hey, come back here!" Sonic shouted, as he flew to catch up. Even though the doors were slamming shut in front of him just as Eggman made his escape, with this form, these wouldn't last even for a minute. Sonic blasted his way through without injury and chased after the four villains while the entire fortress was exploding all around them.

The golden hedgehog eventually caught up with the hovercraft inside an unusual station that had a giant cylinder looking cannon that made Sonic feel a bit uneasy, but he ignored it and focused on his target instead. He then smacked the craft which sent it out of control and Eggman, Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun screamed while flying out and crashing onto the metal floor in a strange and very suspicious looking room. Sonic landed on the floor himself.

"S-Sonic, I-I'm sorry! R-Really! L-Look, go easy on me!" Eggman pleaded, terrified, on his knees and all.

"He really means it this time!" Decoe cried out, hugging Becoe as they shook in fear.

"He'll turn over a new leaf!" Becoe added.

"And so will we!" Bokkun added, crying his eyes out.

"They're right! I swear! Just give me a chance!" Eggman begged, groveling before Sonic who raised an eyebrow, surprised and suspicious about this new development. The hedgehog couldn't help but feel like there was something weird going on. Why would Eggman do this now?

Despite his suspicions, Sonic walked up closer and unknowingly stood in a circle that he didn't notice while saying with a smirk. "Well, this is new. Showing remorse now, Eggman? If you played nice, I wouldn't have to break all your toys."

What Sonic didn't realize was that Eggman was holding a small remote in his hand and the villain grinned evilly.

"GOTCHA!" He snarled, pushing the red button.

"Huh!?" Sonic gasped as all of the sudden four unusual wall things appeared all around him and began to spark electricity. Realizing too late that he'd fallen right into Eggman's trap, Sonic tried to escape but the electrical force captured him and pulled him right into the middle, leaving him hanging in midair while electrocuting him. Sonic tried to break free, but then the walls shot purple beams and shot him, and not stopping as they sank deep into his body.

"_AAAAAHHHHHHH! NNNNNRRRGGGHHH! WAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!_" Sonic screamed in agony as the beams continued to burn him. Not only that, it also absorbed his power, extracting the Chaos Emeralds from his body which made him turn back to normal. Eggman laughed evilly as he and his minions went up to a higher level of more controls.

As Sonic continued to scream in pain while trapped inside the force field, Eggman was absorbing the power of the Chaos Emeralds which was then absorbed into the cannon outside as it opened up. By then, not only were the powers of the Emeralds were being drained, but Sonic was feeling his own energy being drained away as well, his voice trembling.

"_AAAAAAAAHHHHH!_" Sonic screamed, trembling. '_S-Stop! Stop it, please!_' He thought to himself, feeling like he couldn't take it anymore.

"_~Rar, rar, Eggman's our man! If he can't do it, no one can!~_" Bokkun cheered on with pom-poms, dancing around in victory like a cheerleader.

"He always comes up with brilliant ideas, doesn't he?" Decoe asked Becoe, evilly.

"When does he not ever?" His companion replied, thoroughly enjoying both Sonic's pain and what's about to happen next.

"Please, hold your applauds. This is just the beginning." Eggman smirked, then laughed evilly as the cannon was all set and ready to fire...and it was aimed right at the planet itself! "HOHOHOHOHOHOHO! I've been waiting for this day!"

"_AAAAAAAAHHHHH!_" Sonic continued to scream, while unaware that a thread or two or even three of his fur from his quills were chipped off and were then caught in the beams and a couple of the purple sparks caught them, and created a small ball which began to act strangely.

"FIRE!" Eggman commanded.

The cannon, with the power of the Chaos Emeralds, shot a huge pink and purple beam straight towards Mobius, straight into the ocean and hitting it's surface at the bottom. As Sonic continued to struggle and becoming weaker and weaker, he managed to get a glimpse of what was going on and gasped in horror as he saw the planet, his entire home, soon begin to crack and split open into seven pieces.

"NOOOOOOO!" Sonic screamed, devastated. Tears of sorrow, guilt and anger began to fill his eyes as he could only watch helplessly, unaware that one tear dropped into the ball of energy where the threads of his quills were still being electrocuted themselves. This couldn't be happening! This can't be happening!

"No! NO!" The blue hedgehog cried out, before screaming in pain again.

As the planet broke into seven continents, out of the very core of the world, colossal sized dark purple tentacles began to emerge, much to the amazement of Eggman.

"Whoa!" The evil man breathed in awe, while Becoe, Decoe and Bokkun, although amazed themselves, were terrified as along the tentacles began to form into a colossal-sized monster as it towered over a couple of continents.

'_W-what? What is that thing?_' Sonic thought weakly, as the force field finally died down a little and he dropped onto all fours. The beams still consumed him and he was still in agony, but Sonic's tears continued to fall and somehow freed him from the beams. Instead, they focused on quills as they becan to grow and take shape into one.

"What-what did-" Sonic winced in pain, bruised and burnt, and still unaware that while the monster was still emerging from the depths of the planet, the quills began to take shape into a large creature behind the wounded hedgehog. It turned into a dark blue fur-ball, before it began to grow muscular arms with hands that had sharp claws. It then grew legs with shoes similar to Sonic's, but metallic with spikes at the bottom. It then formed into a body with quills longer than Sonic's and white tips.

The monster from the world emerged even more, which seemed to react to what was happening behind Sonic, as the newly born creature then grew a head, with sharp fangs and teeth. By the time the birth was done, the monster outside fully emerged. The Chaos Emeralds, with all of their powers now fully drained, become dull and black and fell uselessly onto the floor and the beams had finally shut off. Sonic panted from all the pain and screaming he had to endure, while completely oblivious of the creature, a Werehog, motionless at first and on all fours, behind him, as were Eggman and his minions.

"What did you do!?" Sonic demanded angrily as he looked up at Eggman, furious.

Eggman ignored him, and instead laughed evilly. "It worked! This is amazing! Just as the Gaia Manuscripts had foretold! Dark Gaia has been awakened! Now I can harness it's power and soon Eggmanland will become to be! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"That's the scariest thing I've ever seen!" Decoe trembled at the sight of the monster, hugging Becoe and Bokkun in fear.

"I think I'm gonna be having nightmares for a while!" Becoe quivered.

"W-well at least it's on our side, right?" Bokkun tried to lighten the mood. Still unaware to the five of them, the Werehog began to breath in slowly, softly growling before it opened his eyes with pitch-black and purple pupils. He looked around the room with his new sight until the monster spotted the exhausted Sonic the Hedgehog. Despite not knowing how he was born or where he was, the Werehog snarled with his fangs, and the first emotions he felt were anger, hate, and the feelings that came along where the lust for blood; hedgehog blood.

"You've really... gone and done it this time, Eggman!" Sonic growled angrily, absolutely furious with his enemy. At the same time, unbearable guilt hanged heavily on his shoulders and deep within his heart. He blamed himself for falling right into the trap, and now the world, the entire planet, paid for his ultimate mistake.

"Save your breath, Sonic! Finally, you have lost!" Eggman declared, even as Sonic slowly stood up weakly, the hedgehog panting heavily. This didn't amuse the doctor at all as he frowned at Sonic's determination. "But you still refuse it, don't you? You're too stubborn for your own good."

While the two glared at each other, Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun were about to join in when they noticed something fuzzy behind Sonic and when the trio looked, their eyes widened in shock, disbelief and no small amount of fear as they caught sight of the Werehog for the first time.

Sonic glared at his enemy, panting as he attempted to ignore his injuries, before saying. "I hate you so much!"

"Good, because I HATE YOU MORE!" Eggman bellowed.

"Not as much as I do to you! You just destroyed the entire world! You'll pay for this!" Sonic shouted. Despite still being weak from the trap, he wasn't about to give up. He stood ready to fight again. "I'm gonna turn you into egg scramble and serve you on toast!"

"Not if I get rid of you first!" Eggman yelled back.

"Uh, Doctor? I think we're all gonna be served anyway!" Becoe spoke up, worriedly.

"You don't think monsters eat metal too, do you?" Decoe asked, scaredly and stupidly.

"What are you two morons talking abo-" Eggman cut himself off as he turned to face the trio, only to finally spot the Werehog behind them and jumped a bit in shock and a little bit of fear. "Huh? What in the...?"

"Huh?" Sonic blinked, confused and wondering what was going on now. He hesitated at first as he thought that this was yet another trap and quickly had a half-mind set to escape quickly this time, but when he heard a deep, low and dark growl, the hedgehog softly gasped as he became alert and somehow fear gripped at his heart like a pair of clawed hands, violent cold chills coursing through his body. When he turned to look, he gasped in shock and disbelief and backed away at the tallish Werehog who snarled at him, and even at Eggman.

"_**RRRRGGGHHHHHH!**_" The Werehog roared loudly, that made Sonic jump in fright and Eggman and his minions scream in terror.

"AHH! What the!?" Sonic exclaimed. '_Where did that guy come from!?_' He thought to himself. The monster that emerged from the world was horrifying enough, but Sonic had been so busy fearing for the world that he hadn't paid much attention. But for some reason, this...thing that looked like a Hedgehog but monstrous, he never felt so terrified in his life.

And judging how it was bearing it's fangs and the way it was looking at him, Sonic had a feeling that it was hungry and looking for a quick meal to eat. And that didn't simply mean Chili dogs.

"Uh...Sorry, big guy. But I'm kinda busy with a talking Egg right now." Sonic tried to reason with the Werehog.

"Oh ho ho! I think you have plently of time to play with your new friend." Eggman smirked, seeing this as an opportunity to get rid of the hedgehog. He then pushed a button and to Sonic's shock and the Werehog's dismay, a window opened and began to suck them out.

Sonic struggled and was sucked by the winds. He quickly grabbed hold a ledge and tried to hold on, while the Werehog did the same. But the winds were too strong and soon both the hedgehog and the werehog were dragged outside along with the faded Chaos Emeralds.

"Bon voyage!" The three minions farewelled with waves.

Sonic screamed as he, the Chaos Emeralds and the Werehog were falling towards the planet down below.

"That should be the end of him this time." Eggman chuckled evilly.

"Where do you think that big, hairy monster come from?" Bokkun asked, relieved that the Werehog was out of the way too.

"The scanners didn't see anything about that thing." Becoe said, just as confused.

"He kind of looked like Sonic, only scary and hairy, and looking like a guy named Larry." Decoe remarked in thought.

"Who cares how it got here? What's important is that if that fall doesn't kill that hedgehog, then that Werehog certainly will!" Eggman snapped, which both frightened and confused his minions. Yet he did admit to himself, "But there is something very odd about this."

Either way, Things had just gotten quite disturbing, while Sonic's new adventure and problems had just began.

* * *

Sonic continued to scream as he fell from space and down back towards at least one of the continents of the now broken Mobius. Just as he thought he was finished, he looked behind him and saw the Werehog, while falling, stare at him while attempting to reposition himself and snarled at the hedgehog.

"I don't know who or what you are, hair-ball, but it's thanks to you I didn't get the chance to finish off Eggman!" The hedgehog yelled as he glared at the monster back.

That made the Werehog angry over the insult and he roared furiously and to Sonic's shock and confusion, he stretched out his arms like it was rubber and made to grab him. The hedgehog, not willing to let this happen and despite still falling, quickly went into his spin mode and dodged the attack before hitting his new opponent so hard in the chest that the Werehog gasped in sudden pain. The impact caused him to be forced back further and Sonic used this chance leap up and away.

He flipped before repositioning himself, but gasped in horror as the Werehog, in pure anger, stretched out his arms again and Sonic had no place or objects to leap to in order to escape. Instead the hedgehog soon found himself grabbed by both clawed hands that were the size of his body.

"AHH!" Sonic screamed as he was grabbed before being pulled downward and right back at the Werehog who snarled and stared at him. He struggled to free himself from the strong grasp, but it was no use. "Let me go!"

The Werehog refused and instead opened his jaws wide and began to pull Sonic towards it. The hedgehog saw this and felt sheer terror as he realized he was going to be eaten and he couldn't do a thing about it. This was it for him. He was done for.

"AHHHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he closed his eyes and braced for his end. A very painful one, that he knew. '_HELP ME!_' He thought desperately, despite knowing that there wasn't anyone going to save him.

Or, so he thought. Suddenly, just as the Werehog was about to take a bite out of Sonic's head, a green flash of light surrounded both of them which made the monster stop and looked around in confusion. The light not only distracted the Werehog and saved Sonic from being eaten, but also made both of them float in midair. The hedgehog, once realizing that he was still alive and in one piece, hesitantly opened his eyes and also noticed.

"Huh?" He muttered, surprised. Sonic then felt the grip of the claws loosen and that the Werehog, also stunned, let go of him which irritated the beast, but even he couldn't not admire the unusual event. Unfortunately, it didn't last long, because as the light faded, both of them and the Chaos Emeralds fell once more.

'_Oh no!_' Sonic thought to himself, panicking as he and the Chaos Emeralds fell towards the ground, screaming. "NOOOOO!"

The Werehog fell further away and screamed himself and crash landed just over a cliff and onto the sand half way with his legs sticking out. Sonic in the meantime landed face first on an island with a windmill as it was daybreak. The hedgehog ended up getting his head stuck on the ground, but after a couple of pulls, he freed himself but suffered a bit of a headache.

"Ow...What the heck is going on?" Sonic groaned as he rubbed his head. First as he looked around, he noticed that the Werehog wasn't anywhere to be seen and sighed in huge relief. He was glad that the monster didn't get the chance to eat him, and while he didn't know what that green light was, he was grateful that it, relatively speaking, saved his life.

As Sonic continued to look around, he gasped softly as he spotted a...well, he wasn't certain what it was. But it was a funny but cute looking Chihuahua-fairy like thing with light green wings and a necklace with a large green orb, lying on the ground, unconscious. Despite not knowing who this little guy was either, Sonic quickly grew worried and picked him up by the fuzzy tail.

"Hey, you okay?" Sonic asked.

"Mmmm...Can't..." The little guy mumbled, and at first Sonic feared the worst, he was then annoyed when he continued, apparently asleep. "...Eat another...bite."

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Sonic shouted, shaking the little pixie.

That did the trick, because the little guy opened his brown eyes and since he was upside down, the first thing he saw were Sonic's shoes, and as he looked, the hedgehog's face soon seen.

"Hi." Sonic greeted.

The little pixie stared at him with a comical wide-eyed expression, not having expected to be this close to a stranger's face and screamed while flying out of Sonic's grasp. That made the hedgehog jump in a bit of a fright as well, not having expected that to happen, as the pixie then landed on the ground and panted.

Sonic, being the first to recover, then asked casually. "You okay? No broken bones?"

"Oh, I'm fine." The pixie replied, calming down once he saw that the hedgehog wasn't here to hurt him. "Thanks for asking, mister blue guy."

Sonic chuckled, a little embarrassed by the compliment. This was the first time all day he met someone that didn't give him the creeps or out to rip him into shreds. He scratched the top of his head. "Well, you got the blue part right."

"Wow! Almost everywhere one you is blue, except your arms and your face and your chest!" The pixie exclaimed as he flew around Sonic with curiosity. Sonic sweatdropped by the little guy's enthusiasm. "What's your name?"

"I'm Sonic: Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic introduced himself with his trademark thumbs up. "And you're...?"

The pixie was about to reply when he realized, as he tried to think, that he discovered something wrong. "Um...Uuuuhhhh..."

He couldn't remember, much to his dismay. "What IS my name?" He then began to panic and ran around in circles. "AAHHH! What is my name!? I don't know!"

"Say what!?" Sonic exclaimed, shocked. "You can't remember?"

"No. I only remember something falling from the sky and then 'BOOM'! Then everything went white and, and...nothing! I can't remember anything else!" The pixie cried out hysterically.

Sonic sweatdropped again, this time in a mixture of guilt and worry, and feeling very sorry for the poor little guy. He broke the fourth wall and shrugged to the readers, muttering. "Uh oh. Did I fall on him?"

While Sonic and the little Pixie were having this kind of problem, the former forgot that he didn't fall alone. Because on the beach just below the cliff, the Werehog, briefly unconscious, finally woke up and swung around his legs until his arms were free, and he was able to pull himself out after a couple of struggles. The beast stumbled a bit and groaned, holding his head.

"**Where is he?**" He spoke in a deep, harsh voice. Clearly angry that the hedgehog he planned on eating somehow managed to get away from him. It wasn't until he realized, for the first time since...well, since he appeared in that place, he couldn't remember much except for what happened, that he could actually speak.

"**What is going on? Where am I? Better yet, WHAT am I?**" The Werehog asked himself, which, realizing that he had little to no memories, made him even more furious. It wasn't until he heard voices, one that was instantly familiar, from above him.

The Werehog looked up and, seeing that the sources could be up on the cliff, snarled and decided to investigate. He climbed up with ease and was just at the bottom of the edge, and listened. Surely enough, one of the voices belonged to the one whom he intended on killing; Sonic the Hedgehog.

"What am I gonna do!? What can I do!? I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" The pixie continued to panic while floating up, and then felt faint as his stomach grumbled. "Oooh...and I'm starving."

He was about to faint when Sonic quickly caught him in both hands and let him rest on his palms. The hedgehog, feeling terrible about this turn of events, reassured him in a calm voice. "Hey, don't worry. I'll help you get your memory back."

"Huh? Really?" The Pixie asked, surprised by Sonic's generosity.

"Yeah. If we look all over the world, I'm sure we'll find someone that'll recognize ya'." Sonic replied with a wink.

"Wow! Thank you so much, mister blue gu-uh, I mean, Sonic the Hedgehog!" The pixie replied happily, and the two shared a high-five, laughing happily.

But as they did, the Pixie noticed something and flinched and began to quiver in fear.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Sonic asked, concerned.

"L-L-L-Look ouuuuut!" The Pixie screamed, pointing behind the hedgehog who, with eyes widening as he heard a frighteningly familiar snarl that he'd actually forgotten about, softly gasped and spun around just to see a pair of clawed hands appear on the cliff, followed by furry blue arms.

They then lifted the rest of their owners as the Werehog leaped up with a growl and landed on his feet on the ground which shook the ground. The beast then let out a huge roar and glared at the two who both felt violent cold chills down their spines.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The Pixie screamed in pure fear, hiding behind Sonic who wasn't immune to this either.

"AAAAHHH!" Sonic screamed in fright, not having expected to see his new enemy again so soon. "I completely forgot about this guy!"

"Don't eat me, I taste bad!" The Pixie pleaded to the Werehog, shivering.

The Werehog just stood there and leaned low, preparing to pounce. Sonic, despite the unusual and paralyzing fear that coursed through his body even though he had no idea why he was so terrified as nothing really seemed to scare him this much before, not even when he faced Chaos in it's Pure Perfect form at Station Square, knew that the only out of this was to fight and run.

"Quick, go hide somewhere that's safe! I'll handle him!" The hedgehog instructed his new friend who, despite being worried for him, nodded fearfully and flew to a rock, hiding behind it.

Sonic then mustered up his courage and stood ready, steeling himself as he told the monster. "All right, Fluffy! You want something to eat, how 'bout I give you a knuckle-sandwich?"

'_That's only gonna make him madder._' The Pixie thought worriedly as Sonic made this taunt.

Sure enough, the Werehog didn't like this insult and lunged towards Sonic. Just as the beast stretched out hand to grab him, the hedgehog zipped past and dodged the attack, shocking the monster. Sonic didn't wait as he then ran up towards him and avoided more of the monster's claws that were stretched out and body-slammed into his stomach. The Werehog roared in pain and even more so when Sonic then karate-kicked in the chest and flipped before landing on the ground in a crouch.

The hedgehog smirked with a chuckle while the Werehog snarled, and ran towards him. But Sonic, being the fastest being alive, easily avoided it and jumped and leaped when his opponent tried to attack him and/or grab him. The teenager flipped before he had another idea.

"Yo, fuzzy! Check this out!" Sonic teased, making a funny face and sticking his tongue out. That made the Werehog even more furious and attempted to grab him. The hedgehog smirked and ran again, this time running all around and around and around the Werehog who tried and failed to catch him to the point of just trying to see where he was going. The beast just stood there, now with a bewildered expression at how fast Sonic was to the point of he didn't know if he was going left or right.

Finally, the Werehog became dizzy and collapsed onto his back, dazed. Satisfied to have at least made his opponent pass out, Sonic skid to a stop in a safe distance and stood there with a smirk and whistled, impressed with himself.

"Heh. Too easy." Sonic chuckled, placing a hand on his hip. By then, the Pixie, having seen what happened, was astonished and flew up to the hedgehog.

"Whoa! That was so cool! How'd you do that?" He exclaimed, amazed.

"Being the fastest hedgehog in the world always comes in handy." Sonic replied with a thumbs up and a wink.

"I've never seen anybody so fast before! You were so quick I almost fainted like Mister Monster Guy!" The Pixie said.

Sonic just laughed. "Well, we should get going, before our Monster Guy wakes up for round 2."

His new friend nodded in agreement, just as the duo noticed the sunlight and looked over at the horizon, seeing that the sun was rising. It was a beautiful sight, and if Sonic didn't have to worry about his new friend's amnesia or the fact that Eggman just broke the world into pieces or even a Werehog trying to eat everybody, he'd stand here just to watch the sun rise for a little while. Just as the sun shone onto the said monster, however, suddenly purple and black mist formed on his chest.

"Huh?" Sonic and the Pixie muttered in unison when saw this. Then, to their horror, the Werehog groaned and then let out a roar. The two yelped in fright and the Pixie hid himself behind Sonic again while the hedgehog stood his ground. The beast then roared a scream and to everyone's surprise, he was gone.

In his place was another hedgehog identical to Sonic, but with the same dark fur the Werehog had, just less hairy and his arms were like Sonic's, as was his face. The new hedgehog also wore green shoes that matched Sonic's in style, white tips on his now shorter quills which reminded Sonic of how Shadow would look, and he had black gloves instead of white. Both Sonic and the pixie were shocked.

"What the?" Sonic gasped, shocked. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. '_That monster...he just turned into a guy that looks just like me!?_' It was the case of meeting Shadow the Hedgehog all over again!

"Wha-whoa! Sonic, what just happpened?" The Pixie asked, shocked.

"Beats me." Sonic shrugged, just as clueless as his friend was. The two then flinched as the new hedgehog groaned, breathing heavily before opening his violet eyes. Sonic, despite having been afraid before, asked carefully. "Um, hey. You doing alright?"

The darker hedgehog sat up and rubbed his head, groaning as he asked, mostly to himself in a voice that was similar to Sonic's, but deeper, kind of like Shadow's voice. "Ugh...My head."

He then lowered his hand only to gasp as he realized something was different. "What? How did...? What did I...? I've...changed?" He stood up and looked at himself as his new, non-scary look.

The dark-blue hedgehog then looked up to see the bewildered Sonic the Hedgehog and the Pixie who was still nervous. The former Werehog growled, but not in the same blood lust he felt earlier and instead demanded his new rival. "YOU! What is the meaning of this!?"

"Whoa, chill out, man." Sonic quickly held up his hands and shook them. "I've got nothing to do with you turning into a normal hedgehog, and neither does this little guy here."

"What do you mean by that? Clearly something happened to me!" The dark-blue hedgehog yelled.

Sonic just scratched his head with an awkward smile as he explained. "Well, I'm no expert, but I think the sun mighta had something to do with it. Not sure if you remember, but you were all big and hairy and sharp to the teeth and claws just a few minutes ago."

The other hedgehog didn't find this amusing as he went up right at Sonic's face and the blue hedgehog flinched, leaning back as his rival glared at him. "I'M WELL AWARE OF THAT, YOU STUPID HEDGEHOG! YOU THINK I DON'T REMEMBER THAT!?"

"Hey, who're you calling stupid!?" Sonic demanded, angrily now for being dubbed that. "You're the one who tried to eat me when Eggman threw us out! How'd you get in there in the first place, huh!?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be here in the first place!"

"Huh? You mean you don't remember either?" Sonic blinked, surprised.

"Well, I thought you knew and that you're responsible for this mess!" The dark-blue hedgehog replied angrily.

"ME!? It's Eggman who made this mess in the first place! If you really want to eat someone, then go after him instead and be my guest! That creep is on everybody's hatred list anyway." Sonic argued. He really didn't like this guy, for more reasons than one.

"But I must've gotten involved with you somehow!" The dark-blue hedgehog argued back.

"Last I checked, I went to his base by myself! You just appeared out of nowhere." Sonic pointed out. He remembered clearly; when he heard that Eggman had gone up into space for another plot to try and take over the world, Sonic had informed his friends before leaving, having believed that he could've handled it easily like he did before. And he did go up alone. Which, in retrospect now that he thought about it, wasn't a smart move. And that costed the world and...the appearance of this guy and the giant monster, and even the Pixie's memory loss.

The dark-blue hedgehog scoffed unbelievably. "And you thought that was a good idea?"

Sonic growled, irritated. "How was I supposed to know this would happen? I'm not a psychic! I thought it would be a piece a cake!"

"Um...Guys?" The Pixie interrupted hesitantly.

"What!?" Sonic and his doppelganger chorused.

"Uh, this might not be a good idea, but if Mister new Hegehog Guy can't remember anything, and I can't remember at all, maybe we should all go together to find out what's going on?" He suggested.

"Are you crazy!?" Sonic exclaimed in disbelief. Sure, he wasn't above not helping others in need, but the new hedgehog...he was a Werehog that tried to eat him and given the circumstances, this guy was clearly very rude with a bad attitude and liked to play the blame game on other people. Sonic wasn't sure why, but the way how this creep looked freaked him out a lot when he was a monster.

"Come on. Why would I go with you and this loser?" The dark-blue hedgehog scoffed in disbelief.

Sonic glared at his fellow hedgehog, "I'm not a loser! I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! Who are you anyway?"

"Are you deaf? Didn't your friend just correctly guess that I can't remember anything either?" His rival grumbled, which really surprised Sonic and even the pixie. "Look, the only things are remember are these; I find myself in that pathetic place as a Werehog, or whatever I was, I saw you and that fat loser with a bunch of tin-can clowns, I wanted to eat you, we both ended up blasting out to this place and you know the rest. End of story."

"So-rry." Sonic grumbled sarcastically, though he couldn't help but feel a bit bad about what the other hedgehog was going through. Maybe Eggman caught him earlier and did something to the point of just appearing out of nowhere to escape? Too many weird things was going on and it was all that Egghead's fault.

"Come on, guys. Can't we just get along and try and figure this out? Pleeeeease?" The pixie pleaded.

Sonic and the other hedgehog hesitated, and shared another distrusting look. On the other hand, the pixie had a good point. If Sonic wanted to figure out how to help his new friend get his memories back and put the world back to get together as well as figure out why his new rival had pure hatred at him while in Werehog mode earlier and somehow turning into a new hedgehog, he'd have to go along with this.

"Fine." Sonic sighed, then turned to the other hedgehog and held out his hand grudgingly, saying. "Here's the deal; if you wanna find out about this, we have to call it a truce and travel together. How's that sound?"

The dark-blue hedgehog groaned, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was right. He had nowhere else to go and he couldn't remember where he came from at all. If he wanted to find out about his past, he'd have to stick with the blue hedgehog he wanted to eat as a Werehog.

He then grudgingly shook hands with Sonic, and grunted, half-sarcastically. "Fair enough, Loser the Hedgehog. Let's just get this over with."

"Hmph. Whatever, you over-ego creep." Sonic scoffed, annoyed. '_Ugh. This guy's like a combination of Knuckles and Shadow for crying out loud._'

'_Oh boy..._' The Pixie thought, worriedly.

This was going to be a long journey...and a painful one at that.

* * *

**A/N: So, rather than Sonic turning into a Werehog, a new OC comes in and fills that role instead. I know what to call him, but that'll be revealed in the next chapter. Also, this story will have more familiar characters due to their absence in the original game. I'm hoping to make it a bit more interesting.**

**As I said, this is my first full-on Sonic fanfic and this story's universe is a bit of a merger of it's own with it's own world. If you know what I'm saying.**

**In the meantime, see you in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2: Chip and Sun the Hedgehog

**Author's Note: Here's a new chapter of Sonic and the Werehog! Time to roll with it! *Winks* Oh, and uh, it's kinda pretty dark, too. I forgot to mention that in the first chapter. My bad. *Shrugs sheepishly***

**I do not own Sonic. The franchise belongs to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 2: Chip and Sun the Hedgehog._

He had no idea what in the world happened. Something very strange was going on, and the red echidna, Knuckles the Echidna, had a feeling that he knew who was responsible. One minute he was guarding the Master Emerald on Angel Island as it's sole Guardian for as long as he could remember...or just sleeping on the job, as usual, the next the entire world was shaking.

After that, with a hints of the sky going dark for a few tensed minutes, and seeing nine objects fall from the sky, Angel Island somehow moved from it's original spot to a Greek-like City of Apotos not to far from the mainland. To make matters worse, during the disaster, the Master Emerald was shattered which caused the floating island to fall into the sea and now floated like a normal island...again.

"Ugh, this is ridiculous!" Knuckles grunted to himself as he arrived just outside of the city's entrance. "How many times do I have to keep finding the Master Emerald shards? I swear if Eggman has anything to do with this, and that's most likely knowing that creep, I'm gonna kill him."

Given the circumstances, if something like this happened, then that means Sonic was in trouble and was most likely in the process of trying to solve whatever happened as well.

"Aw, what's the matter, Knuckles? Looking for something?" A familiar female voice cooed, making the red ecidena flinches and spun around. To his dismay, it was the familiar flying thieving bat, Rouge.

"Not you again." Knuckles groaned.

"I hear tell that your precious Master Emerald got shattered again." Rouge smirked.

He groaned while folding his arms. "That's none of your business."

"Oh, would that mean the fact that the world is literally in pieces too is none of my business either?" She teased.

"What are you talking about?"

"In case you forgot, Knuckie-Poo, I can fly."

Knuckles growled in irritation and spun around glaring at the annoying thief. "Stop calling me that and answer my question!"

"I will if you answer mine." Rouge replied in a sing-song tone.

"No way!" The echidna grunted. After several times of being tricked, Knuckles wasn't about to fall for that trick again, especially from Rouge the Bat. "If you think I'm gonna tell you anything about the Master Emerald, you're even more bats than I thought."

"Then I guess you don't want to know about how the world is laser beamed and a certain blue hedgehog falling from the sky." Rouge shrugged carelessly with a smug expression.

That got Knuckles' attention. Blue hedgehog? There could only be one hedgehog that matched that description. Despite that they still tended to argue, Knuckles couldn't deny the fact that he and Sonic are friends with some rivarly. As much as he liked his position as the Master Emerald's guardian, the red echidna did envy Sonic's freedom to do what he wanted, being able to see the world as he wants to, and even fights for the freedom of the world since the hedgehog longed for everyone to have their own choices. He loved adventures.

But if what the bat said was true, then that just confirmed his suspicions about Eggman's involvement in this new situation.

"Sonic?" Knuckles gasped, softly.

"Do you reaaaaaally want to know?" Rouge teased, smirking.

If it wasn't bait, then one would be a fool. Knuckles now wanted to really know what was happening, especially where Sonic was concerned. However, he knew that if he didn't say anything, he'd never know and he didn't know if Sonic was still alive or not.

Then again, it WAS Sonic the Hedgehog, and he wasn't one to die that easily. Still...

"Alright, fine! You win!" He grumbled in defeat, blushing in embarrassment. "A massive Earthquake sent Angel Island to this area and the Master Emerald shattered all over the place, so now I'm searching for them in order to put it back together. For all I know, they could be all over the world."

"I knew I'd break you sooner or later. You're such a tease, Knuckle-Boy." Rouge giggled evilly.

"Are you going to tell me your story, or not? I told you what you wanted to know, so now it's your turn. What happened to Sonic? And what's going on with the world?" Knuckles groaned, annoyed.

"You're such an impatient bore, and a rude one at that." Rouge sighed, disappointed.

"Coming from a jewel thief." Knuckles scoffed.

"Oh, alright. There isn't much to tell, actually. I was flying and minding my own business looking for something expensive and shiny when suddenly a large beam appeared from the sky and shot into the ocean, and then everything breaks up. There was an annoying light so I couldn't see much. When it dimmed, the next thing I knew, our heroic hedgehog falls from the sky with seven black rocks and a large furball. So I thought, 'Who'd be better to inform than you?'" She explained.

"Seven black rocks?" Knuckles blinked, until it suddenly clicked and he gasped in shock and dismay. He knew exactly what she was talking about and gasped again, this time in horror. "Oh no! The Chaos Emeralds!"

Knowing what he had to do, Knuckles immediately growled as his thoughts went to what Sonic had done and how the Chaos Emeralds somehow ended up in Eggman's clutches. That just added to how this situation started. "I'm gonna kill him!"

Without much of saying goodbye, Knuckles quickly sped off into town and left a trail of dust behind. Then, quickly remembering who he left behind, he instantly returned to the amused Rouge's side and warned her. "And don't even THINK about stealing the Master Emerald, batty!"

"You mean a piece like this?" Rouge grinned, as she then held out a familiar crystal shard. Knuckles gasped, and quickly reached for his bag that he was using to carry the shards only to realize that it was empty. He screamed in panic, just as she then flew up into the air. "Thanks for the gift, Knuckie!"

"Why you thieving-! You give that back now! ROUGE!" Knuckles screamed angrily, and despite that Rouge could fly, that didn't stop him from giving chase into town. "That's the last time I'm telling you anything!"

What he didn't know was that he'd be actually missing out on meeting with Sonic at that very same spot as the aforementioned hedgehog was approaching Apotos at that very moment.

* * *

_Around ten minutes later...Maybe less._

After the reluctant truce between Sonic and the dark-blue hedgehog, they and the pixie left the windmill and easily passed the lovely fields as they began to make their way to the nearest town, which was Apotos itself, thanks to Sonic's speed. He and his new rival still shared distrusting looks once and while the blue hedgehog still couldn't figure out why the new guy's monster form freaked him out more than his hydrophobia, he decided to worry about that later as they had more important things to do.

In no time, the unlikely trio walked through the town's entrance.

"What do you figure that was all about? You with all that hair, those arms, turning into a normal guy and..." Sonic muttered, and gazed at two of the powerless gems he was juggling in one hand. "And look at the Chaos Emeralds."

"Are you really asking others to answer that? Talk about clueless." The dark-blue hedgehog rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I wouldn't be the one talking." The other hedgehog grumbled with a glare. "For all you know, Eggman might've kidnapped you and no one even realized it."

"Oh yeah, and HE turned me into a monster? That just explains everything." His rival replied sarcastically.

"I'm just guessing, okay? I wasn't expecting to see a monster right behind me." Sonic shrugged. This guy really got on his nerves when he was, well, normal. As a Werehog, there was something about him that really made him feel like he was cornered by a hungry bear or lion or something out of Halloween movies.

"So um, are you always this fast?" The pixie apologetically interrupted as he gazed at Sonic, flying backwards while relaxing.

Sonic smirked as he put away the Emeralds. "Yep. Been this way as long I can remember. Pretty cool, huh?" But as he did a pose, to his surprise the pixie was gone. "Where'd he go?"

"He's over at that Ice Cream stand, drooling." The dark-blue hedgehog answered dryly, pointing up ahead with an irritated look.

True to his word, the pixie was indeed at the Ice Cream stand, moaning dreamily as he stared at the ice cream cone that was being made by the vendor who was adding the finishing touches; three scoops of vanilla ice cream with strawberries, chocolate sauce, two flakes, a slice of a banana and chocolate chips sprinkled.

"Hey! What about your memories?" Sonic called out to the pixie, but he was ignored as his new friend really wanted the ice cream. The man finished making it and playfully held it away. "Oh, come on!"

"Heh. Guess his mind's on all that ice cream." The dark-blue hedgehog chuckled, smirking as he found the fact that Sonic was being ignored amusing. By then, the pixie was offered the ice cream and to both hedgehogs surprise, he came back with two more ice cream cones of the same thing and handed them. The darker hedgehog blinked, surprised.

"I bought you guys some too." The pixie said.

"Thanks, buddy." Sonic replied, a bit awkwardly. He had to admit, he was a bit hungry himself and while it wasn't a Chili dog, ice cream was good too.

"Uh...Yeah, thanks, shorty." The dark-blue hedgehog added, just as awkward. Now that he thought of it, he was starving and while he didn't have that same blood lust as a Werehog to eat Sonic, he still wanted something to eat.

* * *

Few minutes later, the trio walked up the small street as the small creature was enjoying the treat.

"Wow! This chip-whatever stuff is great." The pixie exclaimed happily as he ate his ice cream.

"Yeah, whatever. It's not too bad, I guess." Said the dark-blue hedgehog, as he nibbled on his ice cream.

'_Better than eating me._' Sonic thought about that remark, then suggested to the pixie. "How about we go looking around for someone who knows you, Chip."

"Chip?" The pixie asked, curiously. The dark-blue hedgehog raised an eyebrow, skeptically.

The other hedgehog shrugged with a smile. "Gotta call you something, right? What do you think?"

The newly nick-named Chip thought about it and smiled happily. "Chip...Chip! I love it. Yum!"

"And what about me?" The dark-blue hedgehog asked sarcastically. "Wait, let me guess; It's creep, isn't it?"

Sonic glared at him in annoyance, before answering with a small. "Actually, I was gonna call you Sun."

"Sun?"

"Yeah. I figured since the sunlight made you normal, that oughta suit you, right?" He explained, and apologetically added. "I'd call you Shadow, but that name's been taken by another guy fifty years ago and he's still lively and kicking. So, until we figure out what your real name is, you're Sun the Hedgehog."

The newly dubbed Sun the Hedgehog grumbled and looked away. "You people come up with lame names. But...It's not like I have any other choice."

"Would you rather Fuzzy instead?" Sonic asked dryly.

"Zip it." Sun grunted, adding darkly in a whisper as he leaned close to the blue hedgehog. "Be lucky that this ice cream made up for lost time. If I was still all hairy, I would've gladly had you instead."

"Yeah, don't remind me. I'd rather be clobbered on the head than having it bitten off." Sonic whispered back, seemingly unfazed. Mentally, however, he was uneasy. The way how Sun spoke made him remember how he attempted to bite his head off in midair, and Sonic knew that if it weren't for the unusual light that prevented that, he would've been chewed into pieces and that was a horrible thing to think about, let alone experience.

The two continued to have their glaring contest while Chip finished off his ice cream and then noticed the hedgehogs having yet another argument, much to his dismay, until the trio heard yelling and laughing up ahead which made Sonic and Sun snap out it.

"Give me that shard, you thieving bat!" A familiar voice yelled out angrily.

"Sorry, but I'm making a necklace out of this." Another voice said with an evil giggle.

Sonic, Sun and Chip all looked up ahead to see, to the former's surprise, Rouge flying away from an angry looking Knuckles who was chasing after her for the piece of the Master Emerald. The red echidna looked very angry and Sonic had a feeling he knew why.

"Come back here!" Knuckles yelled out.

"Stealers keepers, Knuckie!" Rouge sing-songed, giggling.

"Oh, that does it!" He growled and leaped in an attempt to grab her by the wings. But she saw it coming and laughed while simply flying higher, making him miss and he screamed in panic as he found himself in mid air before crashing onto the ground face first. "Ouch!"

Just as Knuckles attempted to recover from his dazed position, Rouge simply landed and sat on his back, much to his further irritation. He attempted to push himself up, but was trapped underneath the bat. "Get off me!"

"You're so cute when you're mad. If you had manners, I wouldn't mind having a date with you." Rouge smirked.

"You wish." Knuckles growled angrily. The very idea of dating someone like Rouge, who, he had to admit-mostly to himself because he certainly would NOT admit it aloud-was pretty, made a habit of toying with him and very possibly to make his life miserable. "Why would I date someone like you?"

"As I said, if you had manners. But I got something more special to me to take home tonight." Rouge replied, holding up the piece of the Master Emerald...only for Sonic to suddenly appear and grab it. When she suddenly felt that her hand was lighter somehow, she looked and saw that it was gone. Her eyes widening in surprise, she looked up and pouted.

"Still out stealing shiny stuff, huh? You never change, Rouge." Sonic greeted, having ran up when he finally had enough of this nonsense, and was now holding the piece of the Emerald in his free hand without dropping his ice cream. He then smirked with a wink. "Sorry, but I'll be taking this, thanks."

Even though she was annoyed to have her stolen possession stolen from her, Rouge couldn't deny that she was glad that Sonic is still alive. She sighed in disappointment and then stood up.

"Nice to see you again too, Sonic, but I'll be going now." She replied, and turned, sighing dramatically. "Oh well, another day of no jewelry."

With that, she simply took off into the air as Sonic, Chip and Sun watched her leave. The blue hedgehog sighed, only to hear an irritated and pained groan from underneath him. When he looked down, his eyes widened as he didn't even notice that when he ran up to Rouge, he'd accidentally stepped and placed his right foot on the back of Knuckles's head and forced the red echidna smothering on the pebble ground.

"Whoops." Sonic muttered, sheepishly. He lifted his foot and stepped back a little to allow his friend/rival to push himself up. The blue hedgehog chuckled apologetically. "Sorry, Knuckles."

Knuckles rubbed the back of his head, wincing in pain before he realized who'd spoken and leaped up, glaring at Sonic. "What's the idea!?"

"Hey, not my fault Rouge had you pinned on the ground. Besides, I did you a favor in getting this back." Sonic shrugged, handing over the piece of the Master Emerald before adding. "Lemme guess; The Master Emerald's in pieces again?"

"What was your first clue?" Knuckles remarked sarcastically, while gratefully taking the piece back. Before his friend could respond, he quickly demanded. "Now what's going on? Rouge told me that you fell out of the sky and that the Planet's in pieces!"

"Oh, so she got the glimpse of what happened, huh?" Sonic muttered, sweating a little, nervously.

"Only from the surface. What happened to you?" Knuckles replied, and then finally noticed both Chip who waved friendly, and Sun who looked bored and uninterested. "And who are they?"

"Uh, well, it goes like this. Remember when I told you that I was going after Eggman again?" Sonic began, and when Knuckles nodded, he continued. "I went to his station in space and had a few close calls in fighting my way through. Had to use the Chaos Emeralds to power up, but I ended up falling right into his trap and he absorbed their powers to fire this huge cannon thing that cracked the whole world into pieces."

"WHAT!?" Knuckles exclaimed, shocked.

The blue hedgehog nodded, and then showed off one of the powerless Emeralds. "He used up all of their powers and now they're like this. On top of that, this guy here came out of nowhere and believe or not, he wasn't like this early this morning before sunrise."

"Care to explain this?" The echidna turned his gaze to Sun who shrugged.

"Your guess is good as mine. What your friend said here, I wasn't a hedgehog but at the same time, I don't remember how I got up there or what I was doing there when this moron was facing Dr. Fatso." The dark-blue hedgehog responded. "I was a monster."

"A monster?" Knuckles couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Sonic shrugged a little nervously. "Yeah, he was like a mutant hedgehog or something and let's just say, if it weren't for some weird green light surrounding us when Eggman sent us flying, I woulda been monster food by now. Next thing I knew, I landed just outside of this town and found Chip who can't remember who he really is or what happened, and then after I beat Sun here, when the sunlight shone onto him, well...he turned into a normal hedgehog."

"And this is because all of Eggman's plans to take over the world again?" Knuckles growled.

"Exactly." Sonic answered.

"WELL THAT'S JUST GREAT!" The echidna shouted right at the hedgehog's face. "WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO!?"

"I guess we'll have to figure this out. I mean, I'm helping out Chip and Sun how to get their memories back and figure out how to fix the Chaos Emeralds and the world." Sonic replied.

"And Sun is this hedgehog who earlier was a monster that tried to EAT you?" Knuckles added, gazing at Sun again suspiciously. "Are you sure it wasn't just a crazy dream?"

"Come on, Knuckles. I'm serious. How can two guys have the same dream?" Sonic pointed out.

"And you don't remember anything?" Knuckles continued, gazing at Chip and ignored Sonic's comment.

"Not a thing." Chip shook his head. "Actually, Sonic gave me the name Chip since I had to be called something."

"Same with me, except he decided to name me after the sunlight since that's the source of how I'm...well, like this." Sun added, shrugging. He then continued while glaring at his rival once more. "Though it is his fault that I'm stuck in this situation."

Sonic gasped before angrily protesting, "MY FAULT!? How is it that you ended up up there be my fault!? I'm not the one who got turned into a Werehog or whatever happened to you!"

"Maybe not, but you did get careless in falling into Eggman's trap and caused the planet to end up split up." Knuckles pointed out with folded arms.

"Oh, and like YOU never got tricked by that Egghead?" He replied sarcastically. "How many times did you end up falling for his lies anyway?"

"Guys!" Chip exclaimed, trying to break the tension. "I don't think this is the time to argue!"

The others flinched and shared a glance. Chip was right. Now wasn't the time to be arguing. A lot was at stake and unless they'd just man up and stop this bickering, everyone was in grave danger. Now that Sonic thought about it, the terrible ache he felt earlier when he was in that zapping machine Eggman trapped him in came back as he remembered the horrifying sight of the planet breaking apart.

_As Sonic continued to struggle and becoming weaker and weaker, he managed to get a glimpse of what was going on and gasped in horror as he saw the planet, his entire home, soon begin to crack and split open into seven pieces._

_"NOOOOOOO!" Sonic screamed, devastated. Tears of sorrow, guilt and anger began to fill his eyes as he could only watch helplessly._

"You're right." Sonic sighed, calming down and, having let what his friends had said and thinking more clearly for once all day. "I'm sorry. What happened to the world _is_ my fault. If I hadn't gotten caught, none of this would've happened...!"

He clutched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut, shaking a little. "I really messed up this time. Some hero I make."

"Sonic..." Knuckles muttered, his anger cooling off. Yes he was still angry with his friend, but rarely did he see Sonic react this way and, as much as he hated to admit it...it scared him. Normally the blue hedgehog wouldn't make such mistakes like this one, but it was clear that Eggman had figured out a plan that not even Sonic the Hedgehog could have stopped completely.

"Hero? More like zero." Sun scoffed.

"Shut up, you!" Knuckles snapped at the dark-blue hedgehog.

"Sonic, don't give up." Chip tried to cheer him up as he floated to the blue hedgehog's side.

Sonic sighed, and while he did feel hurt at what Sun had said, he appreciated that Chip was trying to help.

"He's right." Knuckles agreed, surprising Sonic as he gazed at one of his oldest friends as the former placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You've never been one to give up in the past."

Even though Sonic still blamed himself for the situation, he knew that his friends were right. Bad things did happen in the past, but he managed to pull through and win in the end all the time. Why should he stop now?

"Thanks, guys." He said, smiling softly at Chip and Knuckles who both smiled as he calmed down. "I'm gonna set things right and we're gonna solve all the problems. That Egghead thinks he's so smart, he's got another thing coming."

"I knew you'd pull through." Knuckles chuckled.

"Guess even heroes have their bad days." Sonic chuckled sheepishly, scratching his head.

"I doubt about that, hedgehog." Sun stated dryly, and wasn't fazed when Sonic, Chip and Knuckles all glared at him in irritation.

"Hey, be grateful that I'm helping out to solve your problem. Remember, we called for a truce." Sonic pointed out. '_I really don't like this guy._' He thought to himself.

"Just because we called for a truce doesn't mean we're friends." The other hedgehog rolled his eyes, before walking past the group and up the street. "The sooner this mess is over with, the better."

Sonic, Chip and Knuckles watched him go before the latter asked the other two once Sun was out of eavesdrop. "What's wrong with that guy?"

"He's kinda mean." Chip said.

"Kinda isn't the word I'm looking for. He gives me the creeps." Sonic pointed out.

"Sonic, I know you probably don't need me to say this but...if what you say about him is true, then you'd better be careful. He could be another part of Eggman's trap to kill you." Knuckles warned in a whisper.

Now that his friend mentioned it, Sonic couldn't help but feel like that he might be right. He was nearly convinced that Eggman would turn over a new leaf and even suspicions didn't save him. He didn't know what it was, but...the way how Sun was as a Werehog terrified him, and how close he'd come to nearly have gotten killed.

_"AHH!" Sonic screamed as he was grabbed before being pulled downward and right back at the Werehog who snarled and stared at him. He struggled to free himself from the strong grasp, but it was no use. "Let me go!"_

_The Werehog refused and instead opened his jaws wide and began to pull Sonic towards it. The hedgehog saw this and felt sheer terror as he realized he was going to be eaten and he couldn't do a thing about it. This was it for him. He was done for._

_"AHHHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he closed his eyes and braced for his end. A very painful one, that he knew._

Sonic tried to mentally shake those memories out his head, but it was clear as crystal clear waters. He could've sworn his heart was about explode in terror. He only hoped that it wouldn't happen again. So until he knew for certain what was really going on, he nodded to Knuckles in a silent promise that he'll be careful around Sun.

"Hey!" Sun called up from ahead, and the three of them looked up to see that he had stopped and was waiting impatiently. "Are you clowns coming or what?"

"Wait for us, Sun!" Chip called out as he flew up ahead to catch up. Sonic groaned and shared an annoyed glance with Knuckles.

"Need help in finding the Master Emeralds?" The blue hedgehog asked as he and Knuckles walked side by side to catch up.

"I should be fine, but I'll help out you guys around here for a little while before you leave." The echidna replied.

"Thanks." He said.

As the two were talking and Chip was waiting for them, Sun thought bitterly about the situation. He gazed over his shoulder to look at Sonic who was now talking to the pixie about where to look and who to talk to in hopes of finding anyone that would know him. The dark-blue hedgehog didn't know why, but everything about his new rival...he hated him with a passion. Everything about Sonic, he couldn't understand why.

Nor did he understand why he had the lust for the blue hedgehog's blood the first time he laid eyes on him.

'_You'd better watch yourself, hedgehog. Because you and that Egg Scramble guy are in for it._' Sun thought darkly.

* * *

Several hours later, Sonic, Chip, Sun and Knuckles searched around town looking for anyone that recognized either the small pixie or the dark-blue hedgehog. So far, they had no luck. The good news was that they managed to find three more pieces of the Master Emerald and Knuckles decided that his next destination was where the shards would lead him; to another continent. Despite that it would take much longer due to the planet being in pieces, he parted ways from the trio, with another warning to Sonic to be careful around Sun.

By the time Knuckles walked off in the opposite direction, Sonic, Chip and Sun made their way back to the plaza, as the sun was almost set and the street lamps were turned on. The ice cream man closed his shop early and headed for home. Chip opted to walk this time.

"Hm. Still no luck finding anyone who knows me." The pixie sighed, disappointed.

"Hey, don't worry." Sonic reassured. "Maybe your memory will come back on it's own. Remember anything yet?"

Chip thought about it, and sighed again and shook his head. "Nope."

"Hmm..." The blue hedgehog murmured, before turning to Sun, with slight hesitation and asked. "How 'bout you, Sun? Any luck?"

"Sadly, no." Sun grumbled, sourly.

"Great..." Sonic sighed in defeat, scratching his head again. This is a lot harder than he thought. How were they going to figure this out if nobody around here recognized either Chip or Sun? '_Maybe we're looking in the wrong continent._' He thought to himself.

As he turned his gaze over the horizon, Sonic was a bit surprised that it was early evening already. Man, time flies. Then again, he's faster. As he watched the sun set and street lights getting stronger, with the moon showing signs of appearing, suddenly he and Chip heard Sun groan in pain and both immediately turned to face him.

"Ugh! Ugggghhh...!" Sun groaned as he trembled, placing both hands to his chest.

"Sun!? You okay?" Sonic cried out, worriedly. He may not like the guy, but he didn't like seeing others hurt like this either.

"Sun?" Chip asked, worriedly.

To their shock, the same purple and black mist they saw earlier appeared on the dark-blue hedgehog's chest and Sun winced and wheezed during this until it covered him and he let out a scream which turned into a roar and right before their eyes, he transformed back into the very same Werehog from earlier. Sonic gasped softly in fright at the sight while Chip yelped and landed on his back.

"Whoa! Mister Monster Guy is back!" Chip exclaimed, shocked.

Sun, back in his previous form, panting from exhaustioned before looking at himself, and narrowed his eyes when he saw this. "**A monster again.**" He said, in his darker voice.

Sonic was beyond shocked that not only Sun had turned back into a Werehog, but he could still talk. It wasn't until he connected the dots and muttered with wide eyes. "So when the sun goes down, you turn into...this?"

"**Looks like it. Now I know why you decided to call me Sun, hedgehog.**" Sun grunted, but as he eyed Sonic, the same lust he felt the previous night made him feel anxious and rather a bit wild. Even though he'd more than wanted to deal with him, Sun knew that he'd have to keep to his honor of the truce.

'_I just told you why I thought of it._' Sonic thought, annoyed. But while his rival's hedgehog form didn't seem to faze him as much, the monster form really feel like he was in his worst nightmares, only real.

"Are you okay, Sun?" Chip asked, a bit nervously.

"**Peachy.**" Sun replied sarcastically.

"We'd better be careful and not let anybody see you like this." Sonic said firmly, which earned him a fierce glare from Sun, which made him flinch little in fright.

"**Is my appearance a problem?**" The Werehog asked darkly, turning fully to face him, which made Chip gulp nervously and then he hid behind a wall between two buildings. Sun ignored the pixie and instead kept his gaze on the hedgehog who attempted to keep his cool.

"Well, if people see you like this, they'll go running and screaming. I mean, come on, let's face it. With your hairy look, super sharp finger nails and teeth, it's everybody's worst nightmare." Sonic pointed out, annoyed, and sweating a little nervously.

Big mistake.

Sun, his lust for Sonic's blood back and his irritation with him reaching it's near peak, snarled and roared before he attempted to swipe at the hedgehog who gasped and, surprised, stumbled back a bit to avoid in getting clawed at before falling backwards onto the grass of the small hill between the two wall-fences of houses. Sonic stared nervously at Sun who slowly approached him, and he began to back away, trying not to show much fear. But the urge to get up and run was powerful.

"**I'll be **_**your**_** worst nightmare, if you say that again, Sonic. Don't think I won't.**" Sun sneered as he towered over Sonic who tried hard not to let this get to him or sting his pride. But this proved to be quite a challenge, and suddenly found himself wishing he listened to Knuckles' advice.

"**Just because I agreed to form a truce, doesn't mean I won't come for you, hedgehog. If I had my way, I would eat you and you alone on the spot right now.**" The Werehog continued.

"W-what!?" Sonic shook, his heart beating so loudly that it rang in his ears due to the paralyzing fear he was feeling. "Why me? Why not something more decent, l-like a Chili dog or a Cheeseburger?"

The Werehog only snarled, which showed off his fangs that made Sonic even more terrified as unbidden memories of the monster nearly biting his head off flashed in his mind's eye. '_I don't get it. I've faced monsters bigger than this guy before. Even Chaos is worse. So why is Sun freaking me out like I'm drowning in water?_'

'_This really was a bad idea._' Chip thought to himself, horrified as he was seeing Sonic cornered by Sun. The pixie began to blame himself for putting his friend into this danger. Not to mention that the Werehog's form really terrified him and what scared him even more was that Sonic, who managed to fight Sun earlier, was scared too.

Sun, itching to be done with and rip Sonic into shreds, saw how terrified his rival was, felt something thump in his chest and his eyes widened, and as though something inside him made him stop from acting on instincts and instead just stared at the hedgehog.

"**But as we agreed, we have to work together to solve this mess.**" Sun continued, at first ignoring Sonic's questions. Then he continued, "**But if you insult me again in this form...**"

He then reached out and grabbed hold of Sonic's right wrist in a painful grip that made the hedgehog wince before lifting him up off the ground, and then held him by the body in his other hand. Sonic struggled to free himself, but the grip was too strong.

"L-let go of me!" Sonic shouted. He then gasped in horror as Sun opened his mouth and drew his fangs towards his right arm, and he realized that the Werehog is doing to bite it off. Frightened out of his mind, the hedgehog exclaimed, "Sun, no!"

When Sun didn't seem to listen and had his arm between and inside his opened mouth, making a move to chomp it off, Sonic squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the agonizing pain and spending the rest of his life with just one arm as he screamed. Chip cried out his name before covering his eyes, unable to look.

Sonic waited as he shivered, and for agonizing long several minutes he expected to be screaming and howling in pure agony as the very image of his arm being chomped and ripped off filled his mind. He could see and hear himself holding the place where his right arm is with blood spilling everywhere and the Werehog taking the pleasure of eating his right arm. It made him feel sick in the stomach that he had to fight off the nausea that began to develop.

'_Someone help me!_' Sonic pleaded in his mind. Then, realizing that he didn't feel any pain at all, he hesitantly opened one eye to see what was happening, and opened both in confusion and shock that Sun just glared at him with his own darker eyes, his mouth still opened and over his arm, but not moving even an inch to do what Sonic was afraid of or expecting.

Then, Sun moved his face away from Sonic's right arm and continued to the bewildered hedgehog. "**I will take the pleasure of biting any part of your body off. You're lucky that it was just a warning of what I could do. But if you dare to make that mistake again...**"

Sonic gulped nervously, as he quickly replied. "Okay, okay! Message received! I'm sorry. J-Just don't eat me! Please?"

"**See that you don't forget, Sonic.**" Sun replied, satisfied as he finally released Sonic who landed on his feet and cradled his right arm since it was bruised, but thankfully still attached. The Werehog then added, "**Now that I think about it, though, you do have a point. But really, I don't care if other people see me like this or as a hedgehog. You're more tasty looking than everyone else, apart from Eggman for some reason. For now, let's work together.**"

"Uh...Y-yeah. We'd better get going, huh?" Sonic said, awkwardly. Chip, seeing that Sonic was okay, flew over towards him.

"Are you okay, Sonic?" Chip asked, worriedly.

"I'm fine. Don't worry." The hedgehog replied. Though in reality, he was far from okay. He almost lost his arm to a crazed Werehog who for some reason wanted to eat just him and nobody else. Well, except for Eggman, but still...'_Boy, I've never been so scared in my life. What's going on?_"

"Sonic!"

Sonic, Chip and Sun, unfazed by the former actually being shaken and had rolled his eyes when Chip asked in confusion, turned to the source of the voice, and find that Knuckles had returned and came racing towards them.

"Knuckles!" Sonic called out, almost fainting in relief to see his friend again, though embarrassed for having freaked out like that to the point of actually having been heard.

"I heard you scream. Are you alrig-Huh!?" Knuckles cut himself off when he saw Sun in his current form and needless to say that the echidna was beyond shocked. He'd never seen anything like this before. "Ahh! What the!?"

"**Boo to you too, Knuckle-boy.**" Sun greeted sarcastically.

"Wait a minute...Sun!?" Knuckles gapped in disbelief. He turned to Sonic who lowered his left hand, attempting to pretend that nothing happened.

"See? I told you it wasn't a dream." The hedgehog told him, then added to himself in his mind. '_I wish it was, though. This whole thing is a nightmare so bad that I wanna wake up in my bed and find out that everything Eggman planned and did wasn't real._'

The red echidna had no idea what to say about this, but judging how Sonic had been screaming earlier despite that Sun wasn't attacking now, he had a feeling that this transformation may have something to do with just happened. Although Sonic seemed to be just fine, Knuckles knew that he must be more than a little shaken because something happened.

"...You got me." Knuckles finally said after an awkward moment. He then turned to Sonic again and attempted to repeat his first question. "Are you alright?"

Even though Sonic wanted to tell Knuckles how Sun was about to eat him, he had a feeling doing so would only make the Werehog really do it if he wasn't careful. He already made good with his threat and showed him what would happen if the hedgehog really did make the mistake of angring him while in monster form and that was enough to give him nightmares. Sonic wasn't used to lying, but at this point until they found a cure to Sun's Werehog problem, he didn't have a choice.

"Well, uh-" He began when a scream unexpectedly cut him off, and he, his two friends and rival blinked and flinched in surprise before turning to the direction the ice cream stand is. The scream was coming from a man with short black hair and and white shirt with black jeans, who was running away in a panic from around the corner.

"Help, somebody! Please, help me! PLEASE!" The man screamed hysterically. He ran past the group who moved out of the way in a nick of time as he paid no mind of the four animals who stared at him in confusion.

"**What's his problem?**" Sun asked, skeptically.

"Hey, what's the rush?" Sonic called out to the guy.

"There's a bunch of monsters down in town and that poor two-tailed fox kid's gonna be history!" The man screamed girlishly as he vanished from view while continuing to run up the path.

"M-monsters?" Chip stuttered, nervously.

"How is it possible?" Knuckles asked, before turning suspiciously to Sun and demanded. "Did you-?"

"**Don't look at me, Red. I have nothing to do with it.**" Sun cut him off darkly.

Sonic was about to quickly stop Knuckles from angering the Werehog when he thought about what the guy that ran past them had said. Two-tailed fox kid? That could only mean...The hedgehog gasped as he realized there was only one fox that matched the description.

"Oh no...Tails!" Sonic exclaimed, worriedly. He had no idea why his best friend was out here of all places, but if there were monsters suddenly appearing out of nowhere all of the sudden, the hedgehog knew that his best friend was in danger. Without telling the others what he was doing, as usual, Sonic quickly sped off into the direction where the man had came from in full speed.

"W-wha-hey! Sonic! Wait for me!" Chip cried out, and even though he wasn't fast or that brave, he flew to follow the fast hedgehog. Both Knuckles and Sun noticed and the former sighed, exasperated.

"Just like him. Always running into action without saying anything. It's rare for Sonic to let anyone know of where he's going." The echidna muttered, his arms folded before he decided to take off himself.

Sun watched them go and while he had a feeling he would never get used to how fast Sonic is, especially since the annoying hedgehog had used that speed to defeat him earlier, he debated on whether he should follow or not. He then groaned with a sigh before running to catch up with the group. As much as being a hero wasn't his thing, if he wanted to figure out his past, he would have to go along with it.

* * *

Not too from Apotos, a young yellow two-tailed fox, Miles Prowler-Aka; Tails, was surrounded by unusual dark monsters and they were creeping closer and closer to him. He was very scared, and was holding his hands up while backing away slowly.

"W-wait a minute, guys! C-can we t-talk about this?" Tails asked, frightened out of his mind. He didn't get a response as the monsters beared their sharp fangs and claws and other horrible things they could do. They then lunged for the attack and he gasped.

"AAAHHHH! Somebody help me!" Tails screamed while using his tails to fly away towards a tall wall and hid on top of it. To his horror one of them jumped up to reach where he was. The terrified fox screamed again and squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself while thinking desperately. '_I wish Sonic was here! SONIC, HELP!_'

Then, as though his wish was granted, a familiar blue blur zoomed and burst through the gates behind the monsters and took out three in perfect ease. The ball unrolled itself and revealed to be Sonic who had came in his spin-mode. The hedgehog glared at the monsters with no fear as they turned to face him, as well as Chip who hidden himself to a safe-ish place, Knuckles who jumped and punched another in the jaws, and finally, a Werehog who whacked another with his arm as it went flying and crashing into another wall.

Sonic kicked and dashed into several enemies and even punched a couple and avoided their attacks due to his speed. Knuckles punched several while mentioning something about giving one a knuckle-sandwich. Sun meanwhile swung his arms and stretched them out while grasping two monsters, and he spun around and around while knocking out the other enemies until he let go and his captives were sent flying before landing in a pile of other monsters.

"Man, what are these guys?" Sonic asked as he defeated another unusual monster. He was about to finish off the last one, apparently the leader as he was the size of a muscular man but creepy and ugly and had spun into it with his spin-mode and avoiding it's attacks, when Sun attacked it from behind by stretching out his arm and grabbed it by the back of the head with his clawed hand.

"Whoa!" The hedgehog gasped, stepping back a little, and felt extremely uneasy when the Werehog began to crush the monster's head. To his and everyone else's surprise, even Sun's, black mist emerged from the monster's body, and when the creature vanished, the mist became absorbed into his hand, flowing into his chest. Sun winched at the strange feeling and grunted before it stopped.

"**What? What just...**" Sun muttered, admittedly very surprised and confused. He wasn't the only one.

"Sun, did you just...do that?" Chip asked, shocked.

"How is it possible?" Knuckles asked, in disbelief. That just raised his suspicions about Sun even more.

"That was just...creepy." Sonic said, uneasily. He then smiled a little and added, "But cool, too!"

By then, the clouds moved in the sky to reveal the full moon, and, seeing that there weren't anymore monsters around, Sonic turned his attention to the wall where Tails was hiding and the young fox had been watching the battle play out.

"Hey, Tails!" The hedgehog called up to his best friend.

"Sonic? Knuckles?" Tails asked, gazing down as he finally got to see his best friend and good friend, along with a scary big, furry...hedgehog thing and an unfamiliar small pixie who also approached.

"Who else?" Knuckles replied.

"What are you doing here?" Sonic asked, as Tails flew down with ease, which admittedly surprised Sun who raised an eye-brow at the young fox's ability to fly thanks to his twin tails.

"Sonic! It is you! Knuckles is here, too! Who's he? What happened?" Tails asked, fully relieved that Sonic came to the rescue, but a bit nervous at Sun.

The blue hedgehog shrugged, "You know me, not a dull moment."

Before Tails could ask even further, Chip hovered over and pulled out a bar of chocolate out of nowhere, and handed it to him, offering, "Want some chocolate?"

"Uh...Thanks." Tails replied, a bit embarrassed.

'_**Okay, where did the squirt get that?**_' Sun thought to himself about where the chocolate came from. He then mentally shook his head and scoffed. '_**Forget it. I don't want to know.**_'

While Sonic and his friends were talking, the Werehog then looked at his hand deep in thought as he remembered what he did to the apparent leader of the group of monsters; he somehow absorbed that thing's black stuff...whatever that was. It was a strange ability he never he was capable of. But as Sun gazed at Sonic who was introducing Tails to Chip and was about to introduce Sun to the kid, his brows narrowed.

"...So, it all started when I was about to take down Eggman and, well, let's just say I messed up this time." Sonic continued as he began to explain again, sweatdropping nervously and sheepishly, folding his arms as he spoke.

The way how Sonic spoke, even as Sun once again felt that powerful lust for his blood, that fear and embarrassment on his expression and around company quickly made the Werehog mentally shake those hungry thoughts for the hedgehog's blood out of his head. So instead, he waited.

What they didn't know was that Sun's newfound power was just the beginning of what's yet to come.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for the favorites and reviews! I'm glad you're liking this so far. I will do my best with it. As for why I chose the name Sun for the Werehog, other than what Sonic had mentioned, we do have Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Silver the Hedgehog, so I thought, because of the sunlight making him a normal hedgehog, why not name him Sun the Hedgehog?**

**See you in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3: Adventure Time

**Author's Note: Interesting fact; Knuckles and Shadow the Hedgehog were originally going to be in the original game, but both were scrapped and left out. I didn't even realize it until I found out the other day, after I posted the previous chapter. So it's cool that I've decided to add Knuckles and other characters not seen in the game, huh?**

**To Dreamworksguy4: I'm really sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to do a Sailor Moon and Madagascar crossover. I hope it doesn't upset you.**

**Now then, let's continue onward, fellow readers!**

**I do not own Sonic. The franchise belongs to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 3: Adventure Time._

It didn't take long before Sonic, Chip, Sun, Knuckles and Tails to leave town since they felt it was a better idea to have the conversation without anybody else around, and also to avoid in having Sun being seen as a Werehog. Along the way as they returned to the spot where Sonic crash landed earlier, he continued to explain to Tails what he told Knuckles.

"That's some story. I'll bet that means Sun turning into..." Tails trailed off, gesturing a bit nervously at Sun who raised an eyebrow, before the young fox continued while trying to avoid in making the Werehog angry. "That, and the planet breaking apart are somehow related. What I don't get is where he came from and why it didn't effect you, Sonic."

"Hmm...Your guess is good as mine, buddy." Sonic shrugged, thinking about the colossal-sized monster that came out from the core of the planet. "I've seen how big that monster was. It's huge! It was coming out of the world like in a bathtub."

"But it disappeared as soon as it made it's appearance, right?" Knuckles asked, and the blue hedgehog nodded. The red echidna thought deeply before muttering. "What purpose is that creature? How was it within our planet in first place?"

"For one thing, Eggman sure knew about it, and it took the Chaos Emeralds to help it get out. I've never even heard of that giant thing before." Sonic said, before adding with determination. "Another thing, I need to find Egghead and make him make him fix this, and FAST, if it means hard-boiling him!"

"**So that you can serve him like dipping pieces of toast into the yolk, or making an Egg-Sandwich?**" Sun asked, sarcastically.

Even though Sonic was still somewhat terrified around the Werehog and more than a little shaken of nearly having his arm bitten off, he couldn't help but chuckle at the sarcasm and replied teasingly. "I was thinking of making an Egg Salad."

"About that, I think I know someone who might know something about what's going on here." Tails suggested.

That got everyone's attention as Sonic asked, eagerly. "Really? Who?"

The young fox smiled. "Professor Pickle over at Spagonia University. I came to this city to gather some data. If we add that to his research findings, we might be able to get to the bottom of all this."

"It would work, if Spagonia wasn't another continent away." Knuckles pointed out grumpily.

"It would've been like a jog if the planet wasn't in pieces." Sonic added.

"No problem. I've got an idea." Tails assured.

Sonic and Knuckles blinked as they shared a glance, half-knowing what their friend was talking about. Sun and Chip on the other hand, both looked confused as they wondered what the young fox meant.

* * *

Few minutes later, the group followed Tails as he showed them the very familiar plane that Sonic and Knuckles knew too well.

"Ta-da!" The young fox gestured at his prized plane. "My Tornado 1 will get us there in a flash."

"Leave it to you, Tails!" Sonic praised happily with a thumbs up, which made his younger friend laugh sheepishly.

"**Wait a minute. You can actually fly this thing as well as fly with your tails, kid?**" Sun asked, admittedly surprised, while Chip was amazed.

Sonic smirked and answered for his best friend. "Tails is an awesome mechanic. Always has been."

"**I wasn't talking to you, hedgehog.**" The Werehog growled, glaring heatedly at his rival who tried not to flinch but he did hold his hands up in defense. Sun continued to stare at Sonic and snarled darkly in his mind. '_**I'll get you. Just you wait.**_'

"Geez, sorry. I was just trying to help." Sonic replied, attempting to keep his composture, mentally gulping nervously. '_Man...Sure hope we'll be able to find a cure for this guy. Or else I'll be served as a hedgehog sandwich or something. Ugh, that's a scary thought._'

Chip, while even more amazed, then noticed a problem and pointed out. "Um, but how do we all fit into the plane? It's only got three seats?"

"No problem." Sonic said, turning to face the pixie. "I can just ride on top of it. No sweat."

"I could use a lift in order to find the Master Emerald, if that's alright with you, Tails." Knuckles admitted.

Sonic smirked, "Let's get moving."

Tails nodded enthusiastically. With that, the group boarded his plane as he piloted it, Sun and Knuckles getting into their seats, uncomfortably for the Werehog due to seat being a tight squeeze, and Chip riding with Tails. Sonic leaped on top of it and gave the two-tailed fox a thumbs up.

The fox nodded and soon they were off, leaving behind Apotos for Spagonia.

"Here we go!" Sonic cheered as they took off, flying.

* * *

In midair, the Tornado flew across the continent and over the broken pieces, which Sonic and his companions gazed down and saw the intensed and horrifying damage it's caused. It was almost like each continent were floating just like Angel Island, only water was flowing down like waterfalls into the fiery abyss that could be seen. For Sonic, seeing this even closer than in Eggman's base wretched his heart, reminding him of what the evil doctor had done.

"Man, it's worse up close." The blue hedgehog commented, wincing at the damage.

"It's almost like you can just fall straight through to it's centre." Tails added, nervously. He'd known that based on what Sonic had told him it was bad, but to see it like this, even when he went out to find him, it was frightening.

Sonic nodded, and couldn't help but half-sarcastically say, "Makes you wonder if that big, fat colossus guy is a real thing from the story _"Journey to the Centre of Mobius"_, huh? Hope there aren't any Sharknados coming up next."

"**Sharknados?**" Sun deadpanned skeptically. "**What kind of a stupid idea is that?**"

"It's a weird movie franchise about sharks attacking people inside tornadoes. Only saw parts of the first one. Never made that mistake again." Sonic answered, shrugging. A while back, he'd been a bit bored when it was a rainy day and he had nothing to do. Well, that was after he saved the Arabian Nights from Erazor Djinn and having gone through a long journey to get back home. He used that time to recover and watched a late night TV. The first of the six movies was on and he decided there was nothing else on.

It was cringe worthy for the first half hour before Sonic finally shut the TV off and vowed to never watch the rest of it or even the other movies. It was horrible in his opinion.

"That sounds awful." Chip commented.

"Yeeeeah, it was." The blue hedgehog shrugged, before saying, serious this time. "Anyway, whatever that thing is, it's very dangerous. Got a bad feeling that guy's part of Eggman's stupid plans."

"Somehow, I don't think that monster will actually be listening to that Egghead." Knuckles pointed out, skeptically.

"Why's that?" Chip asked, curiously.

The echidna frowned. "...Because in the end Eggman's plans never work."

"**So what you're saying is that despite the world being in pieces, that loser will lose again?**" The Werehog inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep." Sonic, Knuckles and Tails chorused.

Sonic smirked and winked. "Okay things always turn out bad at first, but Eggman's a real big sore loser. Same goes for other bad guys we've fought."

Just then, there was a sudden noise behind them which caused all five companions to glance over their shoulders and to their shock, ugly, flying monsters that looked like ravens, but with Gargoyle eyes and arms with their wings on their backs suddenly appeared and were beginning to chase after them. Chip screamed in terror at the sight of those things and ducked into his seat to hide.

"Ahh! Where'd they come from!?" Tails exclaimed in terror.

"Don't know, but they don't look like they're inviting us to a party!" Sonic responded, shocked and mentally wondering where did the monsters come from. Though he did wonder where the other monster guys in Apotos came from as well. Could they be linked to the giant monster from within the planet too? Or where they...?

'_Wait. Sun came out nowhere too. Uh-oh...Don't tell me he's..._' The blue hedgehog thought as another theory formed in into his mind, but as the monsters flew past them that nearly rocked the Tornado 1 off course, Sonic almost losing his balance as he and his friends and Sun cried out in alarm before Tails corrected the position, the Mobian hero decided to worry about the thought later, knowing that they had to try and stop these things.

"These things are monstrous!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"**And ugly.**" Sun commented, clutching at his seat after the unexpected turbulence. "**How the heck can we deal with these guys?**"

Tails, in his own moments of bravery, glanced up at Sonic and called out. "Sonic, I got an idea! I need you to be co-pilot!"

"Okay! Tell me what to do!" Sonic called back.

The young fox nodded and pushed a button. The Tornado 1 then opened up in the middle while extending the main seatings, both Tails, Chip and Knuckles stretched out in front, while Sun was stretched out to the back as a secret compartment opened up, and revealed another seat with what it looked like a machine gun of some sorts, only it was laser looking and it sat itself into the middle of the plane's wings which the middle opened up to allow it to emerge. Needless to say that everyone had mixed reactions of awe, confusion and disbelief.

Sonic whistled, very impressed. "Now _that's_ wicked cool!"

"I need you to take out those monsters with the Laser-Cannon! I'll stay on course as much as I can, while you make sure they don't get any closer or we're done for!" Tails instructed.

"Roger that, buddy!" The blue hedgehog saluted with two fingers and a smirk, before quickly leaping into the seat and positioned himself, grasping the handles and buttons of the Laser-Cannon which also had a target screen thing. "Ready when you're are!"

"Okay!" Tails nodded as he and Sonic both refocused on the monsters who, as though realizing they had passed some prey, spun around and changed course, this time heading straight towards them. Sonic waited for Tails' signal. "NOW!"

Sonic opened fire as laser shots shot out from the Laser Cannon, and he aimed carefully and quickly, taking out one flying monster who shrieked in agony before falling to it's death, vanishing into black and purple mist. He repeated the progress as Tails continued to fly forward, taking out two more before they had the chance to attack. Then another monster got too close for Sonic to hit, and Tails had to tell the others to hold on before swaying to the right which unfortunately sent the Tornado 1 into an unexpected spin as they all screamed. At that moment, Sonic wished his seat had a seat-belt.

"WHOOAAA! ROLLERCOASTER RIDE!" Sonic exclaimed, hanging on for dear life and silently pleading whoever was up in the heavens to not make him fall and plunge to his untimely demise.

"STOP THE RIDE! I WANNA GET OOOOOOFFFFF!" Chip screamed as he was quickly becoming dizzy from the continuous spinning.

"I THINK I'M GONNA BE SICK!" Knuckles screamed, both dizzy as well as feeling nauseous.

"**HOW DO YOU STOP THIS THING FROM SPINNING!?**" Sun shouted, clinging onto the sides of the plane as he felt as though his vision was beginning to grow dark.

"GOTTA CORRECT OUR POSITION FAST! HOLD ON!" Tails exclaimed as he too was getting dizzy, struggling hard as he fought with the joint sticks until he finally had the Tornado 1 back into it's original position even as three of the monsters were still chasing after them during the ordeal.

He sighed in some relief, before quickly asking his friends. "Is everybody okay?" He then noticed that Chip, Knuckles, and even Sun's eyes were spinning as all three of them groaned, somewhat traumatized from the experience. The only one not as effected was Sonic.

"Uh, guys?" Tails asked, worriedly.

Sun was the next to recover, and glared murderously at the young fox. "**Don't do that again, kid.**"

"I'm sorry." The fox muttered apologetically, nervous at the terrifying glare the Werehog gave him.

Thankful to not feel that dizzy as Sonic had his eyes closed despite his stomach lurching and threatening to eject his lunch, he quickly shook off the effects and spun to the side, carefully aiming at the approaching Gargoyle-Raven things that roared at them.

"Alright, feather-freaks! Who wants to be Fried Chicken first!?" Sonic shouted at the monsters that were about to get too close again. This time he gave them no chance as he fired once more, taking out two of them and then had an idea as the last one, decidedly bigger than the rest, was approaching closer and opened it's beak in an attempt to devour him. The blue hedgehog smirked while chuckling and shot into it's mouth in a direct hit, destroying the monster almost instantly.

"Yeah! Bullseye!" He cheered, as Tails also cheered while Chip and Knuckles slowly recovered from their trauma.

"C-Can I some more ice cream, please?" Chip asked, still half-dazed, while Knuckles groaned, slightly leaning over the side of the plane.

"We did it, Sonic!" Tails exclaimed happily.

Sonic chuckles and gave his best friend a thumbs up and a wink, praising. "Thanks to you, Tails! This thing is awesome!"

His younger friend laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as he explained. "I built it in just in case we would end up facing Eggman's flying robots in future adventures. Good thing it came in handy now."

"Tails, I'm really proud of you thinking ahead." The hedgehog said warmly, which made Tails feel even more bashful and happy by the compliment. "I love you, li'l bro."

"Thanks, big bro. I love you too." Tails replied sincerely.

"**"Li'l bro"?**" Sun asked Sonic, skeptically, with an raised eye-brow. "**What'd you do, adopt the kid or something?**"

Sonic, still not certain why the Werehog made him feel like he wanted to hide and yet he just faced the gapping maw of a Gargoyle-Bird Monster with no fear at all, glared at his rival and warned. "Taunt and threaten me all you want, but you'd better not do that to my friends and family, or I'll make you regret it!"

"**Watch it, hedgehog! Or you can kiss the truce goodbye.**" Sun warned darkly, and while Sonic wanted to make a come-back remark, the hissing and darkness of his rival's words stabbed him into his heart with a fresh wave of fear and reminder of what happened in the last nearly two days. But the hedgehog attempted to swallow that fear and stop it from showing on his face. He couldn't afford to let his friends know that he was terrified of this guy.

As Sonic struggled to say something without causing Sun to inadvertly attack which would result in causing the plane to go out of control and they'd all crash to their deaths, the golden light of the sunrise and blue skies caught their attentions as they had reached the other split continent. When the sunlight covered them, Sun himself grunted as he was going through yet another transformation, which caught both Tails and Knuckles by surprise. The next thing they, Sonic and Chip knew, the Werehog once again returned to his hedgehog form, and the newly hedgehog form of Sun panted, a bit disorientated.

"Whoa!" Tails and Knuckles exclaimed in disbelief.

"How did-?" Knuckles gasped, eyes widening.

"It's the sunlight." Sonic explained. "When the sun comes up, he turns into a normal hedgehog, like I told you."

"Why does Sun look a lot like you, Sonic?" Tails asked, curiously.

The blue hedgehog shrugged. "Honestly, I've no idea. Then again, it's not the first time I've met a guy that looks a lot like me, only in different colour." As he said this, he was referring to Shadow.

"Ugh. I hate this transformation stuff." Sun groaned, slightly recovering from that, which, being in an airplane, didn't help. Though at least he was feeling like he was being squashed in the passenger seat right now, unlike his Werehog form.

Even though he was still angry with Sun's skepticism and still chilled by the threat, Sonic gazed at him again and reassured, "We'll find a cure. No matter what."

"Oh, thanks. That's very comforting." Sun said sarcastically.

"You really have no gratitude or sympathy, do you?" Knuckles grumbled, glaring at the dark-blue hedgehog in annoyance and still in distrust. The response he got was Sun sticking his tongue out.

Sonic, Tails, and Chip all sighed in exasperation. This was definitely going to be a painful journey. Though as they were getting closer and closer to their destination, Sonic used that time to think about what he thought of earlier; how the monsters came out of nowhere...and how Sun in his Werehog form did too.

That thought alone made his stomach turn. It didn't make any sense, though. Sun is a hedgehog who somehow got turned into a Werehog and appeared right behind Sonic during the confrontion. Then another thought filled his mind, one that shockingly made perfect sense.

'_Wait a sec. What if Sun didn't get kidnapped? What if he...was created by Eggman when he zapped me? What did he use to do that?_' The blue hedgehog thought. Then he quickly chastised himself over that thought. '_Ugh. Sonic, you've been watching too many horror movies. It's not like the situation with Shadow or anything!_'

Then again, Shadow was created by Eggman's jerk of a grandfather Dr. Gerald Robotnik...so while he quickly dismissed the idea and thought that it was something else entirely, the fact remains that Sun could be Eggman's Shadow and having used Sonic himself as another possible part of his twisted evil plans wasn't too far-fetched.

* * *

This was ridiculous. What could Eggman be possibly be plotting to reach for a goal as to split the entire world apart? These were the thoughts that ran through the mind of a certain black hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate lifeform with a free will of his own, created by the world's worst villain's grandfather, who was also the grandfather of his late and very dear close friend and sister-figure, Maria Robotnik.

Having decided to, in his own way, take a vacation from G.U.N to clear his thoughts, Shadow unexpectedly found himself witnessing a massive earthquake that rocked the entire continent and he'd even seen the ground split apart. The black hedgehog even had the near front row seat view of a very unusual colossus-sized beast emerge before it vanished. Unable to come up with an answer to the meaning of this apart from the fact that this had Eggman's name written all over it, Shadow decided to investigate.

Which was why he found himself in Spagonia right now, because, if the Commander was right(even if he and that guy still didn't get on so well given their history), there was only one man who could help find a solution to this crisis: Professor Pickle, a known man for his findings on ancient history of the world's pasts.

As Shadow made his way through the city that looked like a mixture of Italy, France and Spain, he received stares from the human locals.

"What are you looking at?" Shadow asked rudely at the passing trio of guys who, in a bit of a fright, quickly looked away with the dark-haired man waving his hands apologetically and then taking off with his friends. '_Tch. Locals are really not my thing. Especially humans._' He thought to himself.

Shaking his head and deciding to ignore the stares, Shadow continued along the streets as he made his way to the Spagonia University where he knew Professor Pickle was.

'_Alright. If this Pickle guy knows about that thing coming out from the depths of the planet, he'd better have a good answer for it. Then I'll find that Eggman and demand him what he's done._' Shadow thought as he scanned the area for the right building. He also thought that, quite possibly, that Sonic the Hedgehog had finally met his match and was possibly killed, which meant that things had become bleak.

While Shadow wasn't really close to Sonic as he sometimes still regarded his rival as a fake, as time went on since they both saved the planet together and other times before when they'd been forced to team up, the black hedgehog couldn't deny the fact that the blue hedgehog's death would effect him. They were the polar opposites, but still allies, and Sonic did see him as a friend. Why, he still had no idea.

Both unfortunately and fortunately, Sonic's death was not made reality.

"Yo, Shads!" A very familiar, and often too enthusiastic voice called out in front of him, which made Shadow snap his head up and saw, to his dismay, the aforementioned blue hedgehog approach him with an all very friendly wave. With him were Tails, Knuckles, and two new guys Shadow didn't recognize; an odd looking pixie thing, and...

Shadow's eyes narrowed as he gazed at the unfamiliar dark-blue hedgehog that, like Sonic, looked like him, but more closely to Sonic as though he was an alternate-coloured version of the world's hero. Who is this guy? And why did he have this...oddly eerie aura surrounding him?

"Long time no see!" Sonic greeted with a wide smirk as he and his group, having just arrived in Spagonia just about five minutes ago after landing, approached their former enemy and friend.

"Ugh. Not you again." Shadow groaned, looking away. Though he couldn't help but secretly smile in relief that his rival was still very much alife and the same as always.

The blue hedgehog chuckled and winked at him despite the stiff greeting. "Glad to see you too. What brings you here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question, as well as asking who your two new friends are." The black hedgehog replied, gazing back at the group, only to raise an eyebrow when Chip hovered over to him.

"Want some chocolate?" Chip asked, holding out another bar at him.

"Uhhhhh..." Shadow murmured, uncharacteristically confused as he blinked at the generosity. He then awkwardly accepted it and muttered. "Thanks?"

Sonic couldn't help but laugh at the normally stoic hedgehog's reaction. "Never thought I'd live to see the day that Shadow the Hedgehog would react like that." He teased.

"Shut up." The black hedgehog grunted.

"Wait a minute. This is the Shadow guy you mentioned yesterday?" Sun asked Sonic, raising an eyebrow. When Sonic said that Shadow was born fifty years ago, the dark-blue hedgehog had been expecting to eventually, one way or another, meet a fifty year old hedgehog in perfect shape. Not...a hedgehog that looked like he wasn't any older than everyone else...except Tails since he's only eight years old.

"What of it?" Shadow questioned, glaring at the other hedgehog suspiciously, while giving Sonic a look that said, 'What-did-you-tell-him?' on his face.

"Well, to answer your three questions, it goes like this. First off, I can give you two guesses on who's behind the world's current state, but you only need one." The blue hedgehog shrugged sheepishly.

"Figured as much." The ultimate lifeform rolled his eyes. "Let me guess; you went after Eggman and this time failed miserably?"

Sonic scratched his head as he replied, a bit uncomfortably. "More like messed up by landing myself right into his trap. But that's not gonna stop me from finding that Egghead and fixing up the world."

* * *

Sonic and his friends then told Shadow everything that's happened a couple days back as they all walked together to the University that Tails talked about. Shadow, shocked that the Chaos Emeralds' powers were drained completely, and surprised by Sun's development even if he found the, 'turning into a monster' suspicious, then told them that he was taking a break when he saw what happened, and after asking some advice, came here the same reason as the group did.

While Knuckles then ventured off to find the other piece of the Master Emerald and departed as the group said their goodbyes to him for the time being, Sonic, Tails, Chip, Sun and Shadow eventually found the University itself and after being allowed in, they reached Professor Pickle's office, only to find his assistant, a young man who was checking things up.

What he told them sent shock waves into their bodies.

"What!?" Tails exclaimed, horrified. "Professor Pickle's been kidnapped?"

"I'm afraid so. It happened a little while ago right after the planet was split into pieces. He was taken by some machines and a round-shaped man, along with his reports!" The assistant explained grimly.

"That's not good." The young fox sighed, worriedly.

Sonic clutched his fist angrily. He knew exactly who was responsible. "That Eggman...!"

"Trust him to be one step ahead of us." Shadow shook his head, also angered by Eggman's plots.

"What a horrible thing to do! We've gotta rescue that professor guy and fast!" Chip exclaimed hysterically. "If he was kidnapped that long ago, he's gotta be real hungry by now. An- And if I was that hungry, I don't know how long I would last! I'd rather be dead!"

Then, somewhat awkwardly, Chip fainted and collapsed onto the floor, yet his soul emerged from his body and, not fully realizing it, continued to talk but no sound was coming out. Then, realizing that he felt even lighter and the others were giving him shocked and slightly terrified looks, Chip looked down at himself and saw what just happened. Mutely screaming, he quickly returned to his body.

"Okay, that right there...that was messed up." Sun admitted, eyes wide as found that to be extremely creepy.

"I'm sure Eggman is feeding him." Tails reassured the pixie to calm him down. "Even he's not that bad."

"You got any idea where he is?" Sonic asked the assistant. He didn't know why Eggman would take Professor Pickle, but as he remembered him mention something about Gaia transcriptions, the blue hedgehog began to think that maybe Pickle's research may be the stuff the evil madman had...and most likely stolen.

The assistant thought about it, before nodding and replied. "I do remember him talking about going to Mazuri. It's not that far if the planet wasn't in pieces."

"No problem. We'll get the Professor back. Thanks for the help!" Sonic replied.

"I'll go with you. You could use some help after what happened." Shadow said, smirking as Sonic and Tails turned to him in surprise. "Besides, Eggman is going to regret in messing with me."

"Sounds like a plan." The blue hedgehog smirked. While he knew that his rival/friend didn't show much emotion, Sonic knew that, created or not, Shadow had a heart. He was just like them, besides the super powers. Deep down, the black hedgehog did care, to some extent. While he long put his past behind him, Shadow still deeply held the bond with Maria despite her having been gone for fifty years.

"But first, I need to talk to you. Alone." Shadow unexpectedly added, which caught Sonic slightly off-guard. The younger hedgehog raised an eyebrow with a nervous sweatdrop, wondering what could the black hedgehog be possibly wanting to talk to him about, and quickly came up with a few theories in his mind.

"Uh, okay?"

While Tails, Chip and the assistant were also puzzled of why Shadow needed to talk to Sonic in private, Sun eyed them suspiciously as the two other hedgehogs told them to wait by the Tornado 1 before they left the room. Shadow looked over his shoulder as the other three walked down the hallway of the opposite direction that lead to the entrance as Sonic did the same, wondering what was going on. The next thing the blue hedgehog knew, Shadow grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to to the right sharply.

"Hey! Wha-mmph!" Sonic was cut off as Shadow covered his mouth with his hand as the other hedgehog pulled him towards a door. Sonic attempted to pull the hand away from his mouth, but couldn't and his cries were muffled.

"_Let-me-go!_" Sonic cried out. Or at least that what Shadow thought it sounded, though it was hard since the younger hedgehog was muffled, but at the moment he didn't care. He pulled open a random door and dragged Sonic inside, which was just a staff room filled with cleaning items for the cleaners to use. Shadow then locked the door and turned the light on before finally releasing his 'captive'.

Panting from his unexpected kidnapping, Sonic glared at him and demanded. "What'd you do that for!?"

"Shh! Keep it down. Do you want anybody to hear us?" Shadow hissed, shushing him.

Even though Sonic had no idea what this private meeting was about, he decided to heed Shadow's words and asked, whispering. "What's going on?"

"I want to talk to you about Sun. But, I can't have him get suspicious." The black hedgehog answered, which had Sonic's eyes widen. "You said that you had no idea where he came from or how he ended up in Eggman's fortress, yes?"

"Yeah...I had a thought that maybe he'd caught him earlier and pretended to not know where he'd came from." Sonic replied, though given what else he thought off earlier, he was beginning to think that maybe Eggman didn't capture him, which made no sense.

"I disagree." Shadow muttered, firmly. "How is it that he even got there or what Eggman even intends on doing with him? That Sun has no memories of what happened?"

Sonic felt a chill run down his spine and he tried not to let his fear of the new hedgehog's Werehog form show. "I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out."

"The Chaos Emeralds did hold tremendous powers, and they were used to not only break the planet apart, but also bring forth a massive creature no one's even heard of. Considering the machine was used to drain away their powers with you in it and then Sun appearing out of nowhere, perhaps it was a sudden Chaos Control that brought him there and caused him to turn into a monster as you claim." Shadow theoried, folding his arms.

"What!?" Sonic softly exclaimed, horrified. "Come on, man! That's crazy! There's no way in a million years that the Chaos Emeralds would do that, let alone suddenly bring somebody I don't know through Chaos Control without me even saying it. If that's the case, then I'd be turning into a monster during the night too or something."

"Okay, say that it's true. What about that little pixie thing, Chip? How do you explain his memory loss?" Shadow asked skeptically.

The blue hedgehog flinched, then scratched the back of his head uncomfortably and said, with a twinge of guilt. "Think I might've accidentally landed on top of him when Eggman sent me and Sun and the Chaos Emeralds flying. Poor guy can't even remember his name."

"Let me guess; you feel bad about it and want to make up for it by helping him as well as Sun getting their memories back."

"Yeah, pretty much. But seriously, it's just too...too weird for Sun to suddenly be brought over by Chaos Control. Let alone turn him into a monster." Sonic pointed out.

Shadow sighed, "Look, until we figure this out, you'd better watch your back. I don't know why, but there's this...unusual feeling I get from him. I can't explain why, because I'm nothing like Eggman or Dr. Gerald Robotnik."

The other hedgehog shrugged, and while he suddenly felt that telling his friend what he wanted to say felt like a bad idea, he was grateful that Sun wasn't around to hear them or even acknowledging that they were both having this conversation in a closet.

"Maybe it's because how he can turn into a monster at nighttime." He thought, before admitting. "Between you and me, Shads, I...I'm scared."

"You, scared? At something that isn't water?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

Sonic hesitantly nodded, feeling more than a little embarrassed and his pride being stung even by just admitting it. "It's stupid even for me, I know. But...there's something about Sun in his hairy mode that really freaks me out. Even before he tried to have me for breakfast, the first time I saw him, I never felt so scared in my whole life. I don't know what's going on. I mean, that colossus monster is more dangerous, but even that doesn't scare me as much. Even when the guys and I were attacked by those ugly flying birds on our way here, I took out it's leader when that guy tried to eat me and it was like times I fought against monsters before."

"Hmmm...This only just makes Sun more and more suspicious. The fact remains is that I don't trust him. If I can sense something strange and wrong from him, and he's enough to terrify you of all people, that just proves that he's very dangerous." The black hedgehog thought deeply, which wasn't what the blue hedgehog had been expecting as he'd been prepared for mocking words.

The teenage hedgehog unconsciously placed his left hand onto his right arm, and held it there while gently rubbing it, the brooding memories of what happened last night at Apotos came back to him.

_"__**Just because I agreed to form a truce, doesn't mean I won't come for you, hedgehog. If I had my way, I would eat you and you alone on the spot right now.**__" The Werehog continued._

_"W-what!?" Sonic shook, his heart beating so loudly that it rang in his ears due to the paralyzing fear he was feeling._

_"__**But as we agreed, we have to work together to solve this mess.**__" Sun continued, at first ignoring Sonic's questions. Then he continued, "__**But if you insult me again in this form...**__"_

_He then reached out and grabbed hold of Sonic's right wrist in a painful grip that made the hedgehog wince before lifting him up off the ground, and then held him by the body in his other hand. Sonic struggled to free himself, but the grip was too strong._

_"L-let go of me!" Sonic shouted. He then gasped in horror as Sun opened his mouth and drew his fangs towards his right arm, and he realized that the Werehog is doing to bite it off. Frightened out of his mind, the hedgehog exclaimed, "Sun, no!"_

_When Sun didn't seem to listen and had his arm between and inside his opened mouth, making a move to chomp it off, Sonic squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the agonizing pain and spending the rest of his life with just one arm as he screamed._

_'_Someone help me!_' Sonic pleaded in his mind. Then, realizing that he didn't feel any pain at all, he hesitantly opened one eye to see what was happening, and opened both in confusion and shock that Sun just glared at him with his own darker eyes, his mouth still opened and over his arm, but not moving even an inch to do what Sonic was afraid of or expecting._

_Then, Sun moved his face away from Sonic's right arm and continued to the bewildered hedgehog. "__**I will take the pleasure of biting any part of your body off. You're lucky that it was just a warning of what I could do. But if you dare to make that mistake again...**__"_

Sonic mentally gulped as he remembered the terrifying threat while trying to shake it out of his mind. Knuckles said as much that he should watch his back, and the blue hedgehog knew, if even Shadow could see it, then who's to say that Sun won't turn his back on them? Or worse...

'_Maybe Sun's lying and he's in the league with Eggman to get to me and only pretending in wanting to get to him too. If that's the case, then this is one twisted sense of humor that Egghead's come up with._' Sonic thought to himself.

Realizing that he had to do something about this, the blue hedgehog, in a sense of humiliation and guilt, and the nagging deja vu of how he almost died while trying to save the Arabian Nights, which in retrospect, he felt like he had that fire arrow in his heart all over again, knew that there was only one other hedgehog he could trust in using the Chaos Emeralds once they figured out how to restore them.

"Hey, Shadow. Can I...ask you a big favor?" He asked, somewhat pleadingly.

"A favor?" Shadow questioned, wondering what his rival intended on now.

"As much as I hate to say this, and I really have a feeling that everything will be okay, but...if anything happens to me, I want you to save the world in my place and restore the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic requested.

"Why me?"

"Because I don't want anything bad happen to Tails or Amy or anybody else. I trust Knuckles to do it, buuuuut...Well, he's got his hands full right now with the Master Emerald being in pieces, and we're both the only guys who can use the Chaos Emeralds to turn Super heroes." The blue hedgehog said.

He then smirked and added, "Come on, you saved the world from Black Doom, remember?"

"Good point." Shadow admitted. Even though he had a feeling there was more to Sonic's request than what his rival was saying, he decided to keep it in mind just in case. "All right. I'll see to that if anything does happen. Though knowing you, you getting killed is highly unlikely."

"Thank you." Sonic replied with a smile. "C'mon, the others gotta be wondering what's taking so long and I know already that Sun's patience is worse than mine and that's saying something."

"Yeah." The black hedgehog nodded, as he unlocked the door and walked out with Sonic close behind. He then asked curiously. "One more thing. What's with Chip and chocolate?"

Sonic shrugged. "Guess he really has a thing for sweets." He then challenged teasingly, "Race ya' to the front!"

Before Shadow could protest, Sonic already sped off in high speed down the hallway and towards the entrance. The black hedgehog groaned in annoyance and groaned while hovering his way to try and catch up the already well ahead blue hedgehog. '_He's like a big kid sometimes._' He groaned in his mind.

* * *

Once they regrouped and Sonic being confident that they'll meet up with Knuckles again soon, he, his friends, as well as both Shadow and Sun, who was suspicious about what the other two hedgehogs were talking about yet hadn't said anything, once again boarded the Tornado 1 and took off on the immediate rescue mission to the region of Mazuri. Sonic rode on top of the plane while Shadow sat in the middle seat.

"I really hope the professor guy is okay. It's so awful to be kidnapped." Chip muttered, worriedly.

"Eggman always kidnaps anybody whenever he wants to." Tails sighed, also worried about Professor Pickle's well-being. "I got a feeling that the reason why he kidnapped the professor is because the research is related to what's going on."

"I'm with you on that." Sonic commented. "He did mention something about _'Gaia Transcripts'_. Whatever that means."

"What the heck is Gaia?" Sun asked.

"It means Spiritual, or as humans would say, Earth. Another name for Mobius, which isn't used as much." Shadow answered, despite his distrust in the dark-blue hedgehog. "A good friend once told me that a long time ago."

Sonic and Tails knew who he was talking about and wisely chose not to say anything. Chip and Sun on the other hand, neither of them having been there at the time, only looked either confused or skeptical. Even though Shadow put his past behind him, Sonic knew, based on what Amy told him later on after he and his rival saved the world from Gerald's plans that almost destroyed the world.

As he thought about it, however, Sonic's eyes widened as he realized that it was quite similar and even though Eggman had been shocked by his own grandfather's betrayal, that didn't mean he wasn't above causing destruction.

'_Maybe he's really becoming more evil each day if he's done something like that. Oh, man. Why? Why have you gone this far, Eggman?_' Sonic thought, uneasily. He had always known that evil doctor was cruel, but this was beyond even _his_ comprehenstion. '_I gotta stop him, and fast!_'

It wasn't long before Sonic and Tails noticed that the light was starting to dim and as they and Chip looked to see that, due to the time zones being different, they were leaving the daytime of Spagonia, and approaching the dusk of Mazuri, and thus the sun was already setting.

"Uh oh." The blue hedgehog muttered, knowing what was coming next.

"What's the problem now?" Sun questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry, Sun. But it looks like you're gonna be in your Werehog mode sooner than we thought." Sonic apologetically glanced over his shoulder.

When Sun, and Shadow who gazed at Sonic questionly gazed at the sunlight, the dark-blue hedgehog knew almost immediately what the blue hedgehog was talking about and groaned in irritation and dismay.

"Not again." Sun grumbled. As soon as they passed and the sun had set, the familiar black mist covered him and right before everyone's eyes, he once again transformed from a hedgehog into a Werehog. Hissing slightly at the uncomfortable sensation, he groaned. "**Why me?**"

Shadow, for most of his life, couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed. Normally he wasn't known to be really surprised by anything, the black hedgehog couldn't deny that this was shocking, even to him. That only raised his suspicions about Sun even more.

"I wonder why Sun really got turned into looking like that." Chip muttered.

"**Blame the blue hedgehog.**" The Werehog growled sarcastically.

"So-rry." Sonic retorted, just as sarcastic. He was about to come up with a remark when the dark glare of his rival and how dark and suddenly hungry his eyes looked made him bite his tongue to keep himself from blurting out, reminded of what Sun could do to him. Despite what he mentioned earlier, Sonic hasn't even told Tails or Knuckles about how Sun came so close in biting his arm off, and was relieved that Chip didn't either.

Gazing low in front of him, Sonic felt the nagging fear and uneasiness linger all over himself. He knew that he had a big job to do, but he couldn't shake off the feeling of how Sun's Werehog form terrified him so much. He thought back to what Knuckles and Shadow had told him.

_"Sonic, I know you probably don't need me to say this but...if what you say about him is true, then you'd better be careful. He could be another part of Eggman's trap to kill you." Knuckles warned in a whisper._

_"Hmmm...This only just makes Sun more and more suspicious. The fact remains is that I don't trust him. If I can sense something strange and wrong from him, and he's enough to terrify you of all people, that just proves that he's very dangerous." The black hedgehog thought deeply._

Sonic mentally shuddered as he felt that his friends were right. It had been Chip's idea to suggest in having Sun come along, but he couldn't blame the little guy for not getting the bigger picture just yet. Plus, he already had enough problems with his memory loss. Sun on the other hand, may be convincing when he didn't know much of what's going on...but what if it's all an act? How can Sonic fight him if he didn't know if the Werehog was with Eggman or not?

'_What'm I gonna do?_' The blue hedgehog thought helplessly.

He couldn't think of an answer to that, because it wasn't long before Tails announced that they were reaching Mazuri, which from above looked a bit like Madagascar and they landed a short time later. The group explored the area which had tents where the natives lived and after asking for any clues to Professor Pickle's whereabouts, Sonic and his friends followed the path to northwest.

* * *

Eventually the six of them reached the hidden base behind an old temple that neither of them had ever seen before. Problem was that they couldn't get in. Chip hovered over and tried pushing it open, and then tried pulling it before the pixie, being too small, panted in exhaustion and slumped to the ground.

"Looks like we're gonna need to find a way in." Tails stated, as he and the others watched Chip groan sympathetically.

"I got an idea." Sonic announced and after telling his two friends, friend/rival, and darker rival to step back, the hedgehog curled up tight into a ball and spun his way into the doors, smashing it open by making a hole in it. He unrolled himself and stood up with a smirk, giving the others a thumbs up. "Ta-da!"

"Wow! That was-that was so cool!" Chip exclaimed in awe.

"Way to go, Sonic!" Tails cheered.

"Hmph. Show-off." Shadow rolled his eyes, his arms folded to his chest.

"**Looks like he likes to enter by barging in.**" Sun commented, apparently uninterested, and as he gazed at Sonic's form, his lust for his rival's blood was again kicking in. It hadn't escaped his notice that hadn't said much to him since their trip to this place. In fact, the Werehog still thought about what the blue hedgehog and Shadow were talking about earlier in private.

"Let's go!" Sonic declared, breaking Sun's thoughts.

While the others agreed, Sun, still suspicious, decided to worry about that later and instead followed his rival and the others through the base.

But as the six of them were racing through the corridors of Eggman's secret base, they were encountered by not only his annoying robots, but also more of the monsters that took form of black lions. While Chip and Tails were not much fighters but did their best to help anyway before being told to stand back, Sonic, Shadow and Sun stood ready to take them on. The three hedgehogs dodged the lasers from a fairly large robot and attacked.

Sonic ran straight through the robot with ease before axe-kicking it several times before hopping onto it's head before leaping off as he then kicked the back of another robot's head towards it. The first robot's explosion destroyed instantly. The blue hero then smirked as he came to face a large monster that looked like the leader of the other monsters and spun between it's legs when it attempted to grab him and then gave it a surprise attack by hitting it on the back.

"Here kitty, kitty!" He taunted, giving it a raspberry while wiggling his fingers. The monster growled angrily before charging at him and Sonic easily dodged it's attacks, leaping up and over, waving his extended finger at it. "Mm, mm, mm. Not so fast, whiskers!"

While Sonic continued to fight and taunt his opponent, Shadow punched and dashed through some of the monsters himself, gliding his way as he did before using Chaos Spear, destroying his opponents almost instantly. Sun in the meantime smacked and punched both robots and monsters in his path, stretching out his arms before grabbing another robot and used the helpless scrap of metal like a club, whacking his opponents as he spun around. He then roared while tossing it into two more robots, causing them to explode upon impact.

The leader monster, being the last one left, was still focused on Sonic and becoming more and more irritated as well as losing by the blue hedgehog who continued to taunt it and was winning.

"Ha!" Sonic laughed as he side-stepped and teased. "Missed me, missed me, now you're gonna kiss me!"

He gave it no chance to even attack as Sonic then dashed forward, easily side-stepping from the claws as he went before slamming into the monster's stomach, sending it backwards towards Sun who, seeing that his rival had just bashed it, decided to finish it off and caught it in his large hands. As the Werehog was crushing it, once again he and everyone else, including Shadow, were caught off-guard when more black mist appeared from the monster's body and as it vanished from without a trace, the mist became absobed into his left hand, flowing into his chest. He winched at the feeling and grunted before it stopped again.

"**...Again?**" Sun asked, mystified. "**What is this power?**"

"It might have something to do with what's happened." Tails theoried as he, Chip, Shadow and Sonic carefully approached. "I don't know why, but none of those monsters appeared before until the planet broke up."

"Makes sense." Sonic admitted, crossing his arms while attempting to hide his uneasy feeling for being this close to the Werehog. "Maybe there's something about those leader guys of those things we don't know about."

Sun was about to make a dark remark and had the urge to lunge at the blue hedgehog, when he stopped himself as, not only there was company around, but also with what he said suddenly made the Werehog realize that Sonic was right.

"**Now that you mention it, you have a good point. That thing back in Windmill was the leader.**" Sun admitted.

"If there's any relation to all this, then Professor Pickle might know something about this connection." Shadow stated. "We should find him and bring him back to Spagonia."

"Good idea. C'mon!" Sonic agreed, as he quickly took the lead, and the others followed close behind.

As they ran, however, Shadow frowned deeply while taking a quick glance at Sun who thankfully didn't even notice. Whatever power the Werehog used on the monster was, the black hedgehog's suspicions rose even more.

Question is...What was he?

* * *

**A/N: The next chapter will have the heroes rescue Professor Pickle and learn more of what is happening. But it seems like Sonic's struggles with Sun is becoming more and more intense. What will happen between the two of them? Only time will tell.**

**Well, until next time, I'll be off to my family's Christmas party tomorrow and won't be able to write for a little bit, probably until next year, so this is my last chapter of 2019 of all of my stories, but don't worry! I will return to continue writing!**

**So Merry Christmas everyone, and in case I don't update again afterwards, Happy New Year!**


	4. Chapter 4: Sonic's Nightmares

**Author's Note: I'm really glad you guys are liking this so far.**

**To TurquoiseTriangle: I haven't thought about Team Dark or the other main characters appearing in this story. I might, but it depends on how they would work. I'm also thinking about adding Soleanna, but I guess we'll see.**

**Either this was posted before New Year's Day or afterwards, either it's officially the last chapter of 2019 or the first of 2020, who knows. Until then, let's continue onward!**

**I do not own Sonic. The franchise belongs to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 4: Sonic's Nightmares._

After the encounter with all the monsters and robots, it was like a walk in a park for Sonic and his companions as they finally reached the main prison room where they were certain was where Eggman had locked up Professor Pickle. Sonic and Shadow both spun through the doors, smashing it open before they, Tails, Chip and Sun raced inside. It was a simple, orange lit up room with a safe on the wall to their right, and in the middle hanging on the ceiling was a capsule dome, with an old man looking rather polish and seemingly a bit comfortable.

Tails immediately recognized him as he flew up to the man's prison, with Chip following right behind him.

'_Guess that's Professor Pickle._' Sonic thought to himself, having figured it out.

"Professor Pickle! Are you alright? We got here as fast as we could." Tails asked immediately, only to notice that Pickle wasn't responding and was looking down at a sandwich in his hand. "Professor?"

"Um...hello?" Chip waved, trying to get the man's attention.

As thought not hearing them, Professor Pickle then began to rant in disgust as he looked at the triangle shaped sandwich. "How dare they call this culinary concoction food. Look here, do you see this sorry excuse for a sandwich? The bread should be no less than 3/4 of an inch thick. Upon it, one tablespoon of mayonnaise and a pinch of black pepper. The contents, FRESH cucumbers, sliced THINLY if you please!"

As he ranted, both Tails and Chip glanced at each other in confusion, the former shrugging. Down below, Sonic quirked an eyebrow as he quickly found the old guy to be a weird, complaining more about the sandwich than the fact that he'd been captured. Shadow looked very annoyed and face-palmed himself in disbelief over this. Sun held an expression of sheer annoyance and disbelief.

'_**You've gotta kidding me. This old guy should at least be thankful that he's not starving. Ugh, oh well. Not my problem.**_' The Werehog thought to himself.

"Am I quite right, Tails?" Pickles continued, finally taking a glance at his young assistant who felt suddenly embarrassed.

"Ummm...was that a lecture or something?" Chip asked, confused.

Tails sighed, exasperated. "Oh, Professor. Still the same as always."

"So what brings you here? Surely not for those horrible sandwiches." The human man questioned.

"N-no! Of course not! We came to save you." The young fox replied as he hovered up to a button and pushed it. The capsule then lowered itself slowly towards the ground.

Realizing this, Pickles then chuckled. "Oh, I see. My mistake."

Once it was on the ground and the glass lowered itself, Pickle casually walked out as he then proposed to everyone else. "Now, first thing's first. It's about time somone taught the chef here how to make a proper sandwich."

"How about you file your complaints later and focus on more important issues?" Shadow growled in sheer annoyance. They didn't have time to give some guy that makes sandwiches a lecture.

Sonic shared that feeling as he added impatiently. "Let's get outta here before Eggman's welcoming committee shows up!"

"Oh, yes. Quite so." Pickle realized and agreed, before adding as he pointed at the vault. "But let us make to collect the contents of that vault before departing."

Realizing that it could be the information needed about what's happening, Sonic was about to go into spin mode to burst through the vault, and Shadow was about to use Chaos Spear, when Sun beat them both and easily stretched out his arm and punched the vault door open to which there was nothing of the door left. Both of the semi-normal hedgehogs stared at him in shock before Sonic turned away to avoid in having the Werehog glare at him.

Tails flew into the vault and scooped up the documents and then rejoined the others.

"Thank you. The Gaia Manuscripts are the key in solving the world's current disaster." Professor Pickle nodded, before adding in annoyance. "Let us be off, gentlemen, and have proper cucumber sandwiches."

"Want some chocolate, professor?" Chip flew up to him and held out another bar of chocolate to the man who, a bit surprised, smiled at the pixie's kindness.

"Well, don't mind if I do." Pickle replied, taking the chocolate as he walked out. Shadow groaned and facepalmed himself again in exasperation, while Tails and Sonic shared a glance before they both shrugged, the latter being a bit exasperated himself.

'_**Great. Another glutton on the loose.**_' Sun rolled his eyes, but as Tails and Shadow left to follow Pickle and Chip, the werehog turned his gaze to Sonic who sighed while scratching his head, seemingly in deep thought. As he did, the werehog not only felt the lust for the blue hedgehog's blood surge up again, but he was still suspicious on what Sonic and Shadow were talking about earlier. He should get some answers now that the two of them were alone.

'_Just hope the paper stuff Prof's got will help solving this problem and curing Sun._' Sonic thought to himself, then instantly thought about what Shadow told him. This only made the blue hedgehog feel very uneasy, and, realizing that he was now alone with the werehog, mentally gulped as the sudden fear of him was creeping it's way back up. The sooner they were out of here and back in Spagonia, the better.

"C'mon, Sun. Let's go." Sonic gestured, but suddenly he felt a chill down his spine as he also felt his rival loom over him to which the werehog had silently went up behind him, far too close, almost like the hedgehog was stalked like a prey. He tried to remain calm as his body somehow became frozen in the paralyzing fear.

"Uh...Sun?" He muttered, sweating nervously. He didn't like this. Sonic suddenly had the instinct to make a run for it, but his body refused to budge. Quickly assuming that, given how Sun was breathing slowly like a predator(which given the circumstances, he is), and some of the hot breath getting into his quills and fur, Sonic tried to resist the urge to shudder. Had he said something wrong?

Sun leaned closer to the increasingly terrified hedgehog who tried not to let his fear show. The werehog narrowed his eyes and whispered darkly. "**I've been meaning to ask you. What are you and your friend talking about earlier?**"

'_Uh-oh. Is he already figuring it out? Or is he gonna make me blurt out the fact that me and Shadow figured that he's with Eggman?_' Sonic thought, trying not to panic.

"**Just so you know, Sonic, you won't always have your friends around to protect you.**" The werehog continued.

"Who says I need them to protect me?" Sonic replied, trying to sound skeptical even though there were times when he did need to be saved. Like the times when he had to rely on Shara to keep him safe in the Arabian Nights. "I'm the one who has to keep them safe, 'cause if anything happened to my friends, I'd never forgive myself."

The werehog smirked, which made Sonic quickly begin to lose his nerve. "**You will be regretting in thinking that, hedgehog. Because when you call for help, it won't come. One day soon, you'd better be watching yourself. There's no garantee that you will survive when I get to you...if you're not careful.**"

As Sun was speaking, he slowly placed his clawed hands onto Sonic's body, making the hedgehog freeze up in fear as the blue hero shivered and at that moment he couldn't help but feel his pride sting, realizing that twice he mentally cried out for someone to help him even if he knew that they wouldn't come. He was lucky with the green light, and that Sun didn't eat his arm off. Sonic tried not to whimper as the werehog's hands were caressing him in the most terrifying way as though he was Sun's item, one hand resting around the right side of his body, and the other hand trailing along the left side towards his face.

'_S-Sun, stop!_' The blue hedgehog thought, his heart pounding in his chest, squeezing his eyes shut as Sun twirled his finger on his cheek, hoping that the sharp claw wouldn't make a cut deep enough to bleed.

Sun then repeated the last words of his sentence right at Sonic's right ear which pulled back along with his left, the hot breath making it like the T-Rex in the book almost swallowing him whole. "**...If you're not careful.**"

Sonic snapped his eyes open as his heart skipped a beat in fear, gasping in horror as he could pratically feel the werehog's mouth about to nibble on his head, and then lower his face to the hedgehog's and slowly stick his tongue out, about to lick his cheek. That did it. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop!" Sonic yelled, reacting quickly by pushing the hands off him and ran a couple feet away from the Werehog who was forced to stand straight and gazed at him while the hedgehog turned around, forcing himself not to run away, glaring at him. "You tell me, Sun. What is it that you really want?"

"**Why are you asking me, hedgehog?**" Sun asked, becoming more and more irritated.

"Because you've been after me and Eggman for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Ever since you showed up, things have gone completely crazy. I wanted to help you find a cure to...well, you know, and I still do. But for some reason, I can't shake off this feeling. How do I know that you weren't lying and that you're with that Egghead just to get rid of me?" Sonic responded suspiciously.

The Werehog growled darkly by this accusation. "**What did you **_**say!?**_"

"You heard me!" Sonic shouted, and for a brief moment felt his bravery return and he welcomed it, more than anything. "It's bad enough that stupid loser broke the entire planet and I couldn't do anything to stop him no matter how hard I tried, and not to make things worse, but I'm beginning to think that you not remembering who you are or how you got there was all a set up! Eggman tricked me once, I'm not letting that happen again!"

"**TAKE THAT BACK!**" Sun roared furiously, lunging by stretching out his arms to grab the hedgehog. But Sonic was too quick for him and he leaped out of the way and sped around to avoid anymore of the attacks. The Werehog considered in attacking again, but seeing the anger and fear in Sonic's eyes, the complete distrust made him stop. As much as he hated the blue hedgehog, especially since he made the accusation, somehow the words struck hard.

Not to mention that Sonic thought Sun had lied really hurt a lot when he really didn't remember a single thing. Then again, maybe that was why he wanted to kill Eggman as well. Was it all part of that villain's plot? Had Sun been some sort of agent for a sneak attack? He couldn't remember as the animal lust within him...maybe it had something to do with the Chaos Emeralds? He couldn't remember.

"**Why do you think I'd work for a guy who sent us both flying?**" Sun growled instead, calming down a little.

"I don't know. Maybe he's done that since you guys talked about it, or something? Just..." Sonic struggled, trying to avoid gazing at the predator look in Sun's eyes as well as the sharp fangs. "Just tell me! Who _are_ you? If you were tricked into going for his schemes, then I suggest you quit now while you still can. If he wins and takes over the world, you're finished! He'll destory you and turn you into one of his toys. He's done that before and it was horrible!"

That really struck into Sun's chest. Sonic really didn't trust him, for more reasons than one. Was it because of paranoia, fear, or maybe something else? The Werehog didn't know. Being accused was one thing, but...what if Sonic was right? What if he was some sort of back-up plan for Eggman and his sudden transformation was all part of the evil man's schemes? That Eggman pretended to be scared of him?

Finally, Sun clutched his fist and sighed. "**...Everything I told you is the truth. But, come to think of it, maybe that's why I want to get to Eggman. Maybe I was part of his plans, and then I turn into this...my memories all gone and maybe...he betrayed me. Ugh, I don't know either!**"

"...Not sure if I can trust you on that." Sonic said, uneasily. Sun seemed to be speaking the truth, but the blue hedgehog wasn't certain. Both Knuckles and Shadow were right to be suspicious and the werehog gave him the heebie jeebies. "This is too confusing. Seriously, you're trying to eat me."

"**Only like this. Be thankful that I don't have that urge to eat you as a hedgehog.**" Sun grumbled.

The blue hedgehog shuddered and groaned in disgust. "Gross! That's cannibalism!"

"**You only figured that out now?**" His rival rolled his eyes again.

"Hey, I've heard of Werewolves in stories, but never Werehogs. What's next, Werebirds?" Sonic shrugged, while the last part of his sentence had the drip of sarcasm in his voice.

Sun raised an eyebrow at the thought, before muttering. "**How many stupid horror movies did you watch?**"

"Too many." The teenager admitted, sheepishly. He then sighed, "Look, I know we called for a truce and all, but...I don't trust you. At the same time, though, the whole world's got enough problems as it is and Eggman has always been a trickster. I still want to help you find a cure."

Both were silent for a long moment. It was then broken by a familiar voice coming from the door way.

"Hey."

Both Sonic and Sun turned to the same direction to see Shadow standing there impatiently as the black hedgehog demanded. "If you two are done with whatever it is you're doing, can we get going before Eggman figures out we rescued the cucumber-sandwich loving guy?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, Shadow." Sonic replied, realizing that he and the Werehog had been lingering behind for too long that he'd actually forgotten that they were supposed to be getting here. He nodded and then gazed at Sun again, the latter also nodded and, with a final glare yet not as intense as they were before, the Werehog then ran out, passing Shadow who watched him leave before gazing at Sonic who approached.

"Well?" Shadow whispered, half-expecting the answer to what really happened.

"Not too sure." Sonic whispered back, having half-expected his friend to guess on what really happened. "I...kind of figured that maybe Sun's been with Eggman the whole time. Shoulda told ya' that earlier. Sorry."

"And?"

"He says he doesn't know and said that everything he said earlier was the truth, but when I told him that I thought he was lying and that he's part of Eggman's plans only to be betrayed and then lost his memories and that's maybe why he's after that Egg-shaped loser. Kinda sounds convincing but...I'm not really convinced." Sonic explained.

The blue hedgehog then gazed at the floor and admitted in shame, "I'm really freaked out, Shads. What're we gonna do?"

The older hedgehog placed a hand onto Sonic's shoulder, surprising the latter as Shadow told him softly. "We'll keep an eye on him. As I said, you'd better watch your back."

"It's my front and back I'm worried about." The blue hedgehog admitted. Sighing again, he then said. "Let's get going before more of Eggman's toys come out to play."

Shadow nodded and as Sonic sped off to catch up to the others, the ultimate lifeform thought deeply about what the younger hedgehog had said before hovering to catch up to him.

* * *

Hours later, Sonic and his group had since returned to Spagnoia, still during the night by the time they got back and reunited with Knuckles who found two more pieces of the Master Emerald before they all headed back to the Academy, meeting in Professor Pickles' office. As Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow and Sun listened, Chip was drinking a cup of tea and enjoying it.

Sonic though still hasn't told his friends what really happened. He already risked his life and almost having Sun kill him, and he didn't want to risk anymore until he knew what to do.

"These ancient documents are known as the Gaia Manuscripts. They tell the legend of a disaster that befell our planet some tens of thousands of years ago." Pickles explained as he read through the Gaia Manuscripts.

"A disaster..?" Tails asked, quickly getting a bad feeling about this. The others did as well.

"Is it related to what's happening now?" Knuckles questioned, his arms folded to his chest with a serious and concerned expression.

The old man nodded, answering both questions. "Quite, and according to the Gaia Manuscripts, this isn't the first time the planet has been broken apart into pieces."

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all gasped in shock and horror, while Shadow held a stunned expression and Sun's eyes widened in disbelief. So Eggman's actions wasn't what caused Mobius to break up in the first place?

It wasn't until Sonic remembered the colossus monster that emerged from the planet and suddenly put the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind. "It's that giant monster with the huge tentacles, isn't it? I've seen it from space when Eggman caused all this to happen. It came out of the planet."

"Just as I thought. The cause lies at the the very core of the planet. All the phenomena we've witnessed are the direct result of one creature, one that you have seen, Sonic: the hyper-energy organism spawned at the planet's core, Dark Gaia." Professor Pickle confirmed, after taking a sip from his tea.

The blue hedgehog gasped again, this time remembering what Eggman had said when he'd been trapped in that electrocuting machine and now it finally made perfect sense.

_Eggman ignored him, and instead laughed evilly. "It worked! This is amazing! Just as the Gaia Manuscripts had foretold! Dark Gaia has been awakened! Now I can harness it's power and soon Eggmanland will become to be! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!"_

Sonic clutched his fist in anger as well as guilt. '_That Egghead! That's why he kidnapped the Professor in the first place, and luring me into his trap to use the Chaos Emeralds! I'll get him!_' He thought furiously.

"**Suddenly I find myself hating that stupid fat guy even more.**" Sun commented bitterly.

"And to think, this isn't the first time this Dark Gaia thing has split the planet apart. How is it that it was put back together?" Knuckles surmised, rather uneasily.

"More importantly, how do we stop this Dark Gaia and put the world back together?" Shadow added firmly.

"Luckily, Dark Gaia has yet to be fully reborn." Pickle reassured. "We most likely have Dr. Eggman's pre-mature wake-up call to thank for that. If we act now, we may be able to restore the planet by returning power to the Chaos Emeralds, and quite possibly cure Sun's problem."

While Sonic pulled out one of the powerless Chaos Emeralds and gazed at it in wonder and sense of relief, Sun raised an eye brow while asking. "**So the reason why I turn into this is also related to this Dark Gaia? What about my memories?**"

"The cause of your memory loss is unknown, I'm afraid." Professor Pickle apologetically responded, while explaining. "What the Gaia Manuscripts also say is that when Dark Gaia begins to awaken, a being born from the body sample of a human or a mobian or an animal of a pure heart along with tears, a great power that is drained and anger and sorrow will appear, both as a creature of darkness, and heart-given new life form with a heart and mind of their own. However, it comes with a price."

"What price?" Shadow questioned suspiciously.

"The darkness of the being must be sacrificed as well as the newly form lifeform itself, should they be good or evil." The human professor explained, which made Sonic and his companions(except Chip who was refilling his tea cup when he realized that it was empty) glance at each other in alarm.

"That's not cool!" Sonic exclaimed, horrified by the thought. "How is it fair that the guy or girl are born to be like us when he or she have to die?"

'_This sounds far too much like how Black Doom's blood was used to create me, only much worse. Then again..._' Shadow thought, troubled by this. He gazed at Sun who looked disappointed about the lack of answers of his amnesia problem, but none the less shocked by the revelation of another part of the legend and the black hedgehog narrowed his brows. Even though he could be wrong and Sonic may not even know it, but that just now gave another suspicion about Sun. How could that be, though?

"Sonic's right! It's not fair." Tails agreed.

"Maybe there was no helping to that person, even if that said new lifeform happened to be some kind of living copy." Knuckles surmised, concerned.

"**A living copy? Yeah right. I'm not buying that.**" Sun scoffed.

"I know it is upsetting, but it cannot be helped. We can, however, restore the planet." Pickle informed them, then gazed at Sonic. "Sonic, you must travel to each of the temples listed in the Gaia Manuscripts. The planet's power will restore the Chaos Emeralds, and in turn the Chaos Emeralds will restore the planet and help it heal naturally, as well as curing Sun from his condition."

Sonic nodded with determination. "Got it! Where's the nearest Temple?"

"As luck would have it, it is in Mazuri."

"_**Whaaaaat!?**_" Sonic, Tails, Shadow, Knuckles and Sun exclaimed in shock.

"**Ugh, and we were just there saving you. You couldn't have told us while we were there, old man!?**" Sun growled in frustration. Great, now they had to go back to where they were just hours ago.

"Calm down, Sun. It's only a minor delay. At least we know where to look." Tails tried to reassure.

"It's still annoying, though." Shadow pointed out, for once agreeing with the Werehog.

"Come on, guys. Tails is right. We still have time to get back there before the big bad decides to wake up from his over ten thousand year nap." Sonic told them. As he said that, he couldn't help but think of the time when he sealed Erazor Djinn inside his lamp for the rest of time's existence.

'_Huh. Wonder how Shara's doing._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself.

"Speaking of nap..." Knuckles spoke up as he looked over his shoulder. Confused on what the red edchidna was looking at, the rest of the group looked and saw that Chip, after finishing his second cup of tea, had fallen asleep on the table. While Sun shook his head with a groan, and Sonic sighed with a smile, Tails couldn't help but yawn which he tried to cover with his mouth, yet was unable to do so.

"I'm kinda sleepy myself." The young fox muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

The yawn was unfortunately contagious, because Sonic let out a yawn himself, stretching his arms up and then said. "Now that you mention it, bro, we did go through two days without sleep."

"You're all welcome to stay at my house for the night. There's plenty of guest rooms." Professor Pickle offered. "Consider it as a thank you for rescuing me."

"Sweet!" Sonic smirked, giving the man a thumbs up. "Thanks!"

"Thanks, Professor." Tails said gratefully.

* * *

When the Professor said his house had plenty of guest rooms, he meant it. There were so many which kind of would be due to the fact that his house was a bit like a mansion with ten bedrooms, five bathrooms, a library, two kitchens, a huge living room, and balconies that had great views of the city. Sonic decided to share a guest room with Tails and Chip which had three double sized beds that felt more like queen or king sized for the trio.

Then again, Sonic could sleep just about anywhere when he can make himself comfortable. Knuckles, Shadow and Sun had their own rooms, though Sonic felt that the werehog might not get any sleep and after what happened back at Eggman's base, the blue hedgehog now felt even more wiry.

As he laid in his bed with his arms behind his head and one leg over the other, he was gazing up at the ceiling. He was exhausted, but he found that sleep just wouldn't come to him quite yet. Chip had been out like a light as Sonic had carried him to Pickles' house, and the moment Tails' head hit the pillow, he was off to dreamland. He also pictured Knuckles, who normally slept outdoors, sleeping soundly and maybe snoring. Who knew how both Shadow and Sun slept.

Yet Sonic couldn't stop thinking about what Sun had said before he finally lashed out on him, blurting out his suspicions which he regretted.

_"__**You will be regretting in thinking that, hedgehog. Because when you call for help, it won't come. One day soon, you'd better be watching yourself. There's no garantee that you will survive when I get to you...if you're not careful.**__"_

There had been times when Sonic had landed himself in trouble in getting caught, and no one came to save him. Yet he still managed to pull through and things worked out in the end, no matter how many close calls there were. Still, he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, his cockiness will really have him lose against Eggman and then the entire world is doomed. Other than the fear of drowning and now Sun in his Werehog form...

Nothing terrified Sonic the Hedgehog more than being defeated by the world's greatest threat and enemy and the said enemy dominating the entire planet.

'_I'll get him. This time, I won't fall into any more of his tricks. Watch out, Eggman! You're gonna be scrambled!_' The hero of Mobius thought to himself with determination. He's beaten the evil doctor countless of times before, he can do it again. His resolve renewed, Sonic closed his eyes and finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_One minute Sonic was sleeping, the next as he opened his eyes, he found himself in a desolute plains that made his heart stop in shock, petrified of what he was seeing. The dirt was dark grey, the trees looked long charred and dead, mountain cliffs of broken rock, in the distance a city looked to be in ruins, and the sky was crimson red with black clouds. _

_"W-what's going on? Where am I?" He exclaimed, glancing around his surroundings. The blue hedgehog gazed at the ruins again and, feeling the need to investigate, he ran in super speed as fast as he could, somehow passing a graveyard between where he was and the city._

_He would've paid no attention if certain letters on a bunch of tombstones hadn't caught his attention. Sonic skid to a stop and, curosity getting the better of him, slowly approached and the closer he got, the more horrified he became. As he reached it, several names were on the tombstones...names that he was all too familiar with._

_No...it can't be! Sonic could feel the devastation, horror and sorrow wash over him, his legs feeling weak all of the sudden, his chest squeezing tightly that he was beginning to have difficulty to breathe, as though he was being suffocated as he read each names on the graves:_

_Miles Prower. Knuckles the Echidna. Amy Rose. Rouge. Vector the Crocodile. Cream. Vanilla. Cheese. Even Shadow the Hedgehog. And...Chip. Not to mention a name that Sonic suddenly felt like he wasn't really there. Maybe it's because he wasn't..._

_Because the last tombstone shocked him the most: Sonic the Hedgehog-his own name, stood before him._

_'_I'm...dead!?_' Sonic thought in sheer terror and sorrow. He didn't feel like it, but maybe it's because something went horribly wrong. No, it did. Eggman had won. That's why the world was like this: Dark Gaia has destroyed the world._

_"No...No, no, no, no, no!" Sonic denied, shaking his head rapidly as tears began to sting his eyes, but at the moment he didn't care. Not only he was dead, but his friends, his family...they were all gone too, and that's what broke him the most. His legs then gave out and he collapsed onto his knees and hands._

_"__**NOOOOOOOOOOO!**__" The blue hedgehog screamed in angst, slamming the ground with his right fist hard repeatedly, feeling his resolve and confidence shatter inside him. Everything inside him feeling shattered, like a glass window breaking due to a rock being thrown through it. He didn't know what happened or why he was somehow alive, but one thing was clear to the now once hero of Mobius._

_He failed. Sonic had failed to save the world, and as a result...died along with his friends. By then, he stopped punching the ground and just wept and sobbed._

_"Hohohohohohoho!" A familiar voice laughed evilly._

_Hearing it, Sonic looked over his shoulder and saw, to his anger, the very person that he knew was the cause of it in his hovercraft and large robot._

_"Eggman!" The blue hedgehog shouted furiously, only to scream as his nemesis had somehow managed to push a button and the robot's giant hand grab him and pulled him towards towards the cockpit. "AAAAHHH!"_

_"Ahahahahahaha! Ah, ha ha ha ha ha ha! Gotcha, you little pest!" Eggman laughed evilly. "I am surprised that you returned despite that your funeral has already come and gone. But I'll make sure you're inside your grave for real!"_

_Sonic struggled to free himself form the robotic hand, feeling a flash of deja vu. Only this time, he realized, he couldn't use the Chaos Emeralds as they were still powerless. It quickly got worse as Eggman controlled the robot's other hand to close around the one that was currently gripping tightly on the hedgehog. Sonic was trapped, and he hissed and grunted as the hands were beginning to crush him._

_"Nghhh! AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he was being squeezed to death._

_"Ha ha ha ha ha ha haa! Finally, you will be out of my face for good!" Eggman bellowed with a huge, nasty and twisted grin, enjoying this moment of squeezing the life out of the blue hedgehog._

_Sonic felt the pressure worsen and he knew that it would only be a matter of time before he'd lose consciousness. Worst part is, he couldn't do a thing about it. He never felt so helpless in his life, and he even though he was bracing himself for his crushing end, he was scared._

_"H-help me!" The blue hedgehog screamed to someone, anyone, a survivor of the twisted doctor's dominance and take-over, to rescue him even though he knew that no one would come. "SOMEONE HELP ME!"_

_Just when Sonic thought he was about to meet his fate, something crushed through the giant robotic arms, smashing them and causing the grip on the blue hedgehog to loosen, to which had Sonic fall back to the ground screaming. He landed on his back hard and grunted in pain, both at the hard landing as well as having to endure the crashing weight of the giant robot hands._

_"W-what!?" Eggman exclaimed, turning to what, or rather, who had damaged his robot, only to scream in fear as a giant clawed hand to smash through the glass of the cockpit and grabbed him this time, pulling him out. "Whoooooaaaa!"_

_Sonic, recovering from what just happened, panted before sitting up with his hands behind him and looked up. He gasped in shock as he saw, in horror, was a GIANT Sun the Werehog holding the now helpless doctor in his claws._

_"Sun!?" Sonic yelled out, shocked. How did Sun get here? And how did that guy grow into a giant!? He was grateful that his rival had unexpectedly saved him, but he sat there, frozen. Something was wrong. Sun's eyes were now even more ferocious: they were blood red with no pupils, his fur had traces of blood on them._

_"Hand me, you individual beast!" Eggman demanded, grunting as he struggled to free himself._

_'_Now you know how I felt, Egghead._' Sonic couldn't help but think at the evil man. At the same time, though, seeing the hungry-no, starving look on the giant Werehog's face, he couldn't help but actually feel worried despite what Eggman had done to the world...to all of his friends...to everyone._

_"__**I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY. YOU'RE MINE, EGGMAN.**__" Sun snarled darkly with a twice as twisted grin on his face, revealing his massive sharp fangs and teeth that made Sonic shiver in fear._

_Eggman gulped, now terrified. "C-Can we t-talk about this?" He squeaked, pleadingly._

_The giant Werehog said nothing, and instead his crimson eyes seemed to glow like the sky, and that terrified Sonic and Eggman even more, the latter then being drawn towards the monster's face as Sun opened his mouth wide. Sonic gasped, his heart pounding in his chest, paralyzed in fear. He instantly knew what was about to happen. So did Eggman, because he felt a very terrified expression and for good reason._

_He was about to become Egg-Food._

_"No! Don't eat me!" Eggman screamed, and unexpected glanced at Sonic, pleading. "Sonic, please! Help me!"_

_Despite being enemies and Sonic really didn't want to rescue Eggman, he knew that not even the made doctor deserved this. But he was too frozen in fear to even move, his body refusing to listen. No matter how much Sonic mentally told it to, it wouldn't obey him. All he could do was watch in horror with wide eyes. He couldn't even talk._

_"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Eggman screamed as he was shoved fully into Sun's mouth._

_Sonic gasped as he saw Sun about to bring slam his jaws onto shut with Eggman inside his mouth and quickly looked away, squeezing his eyes shut and unable to look the gruesome fate the evil man was about to meet. But while he wanted to cover his ears to avoid in hearing the dying screams, again his body refused to listen to him. So nothing could stop Sonic from hearing the screams of Eggman which was cut off when Sun closed his jaws, and the blue hedgehog whimpered as he could hear the giant Werehog then chomp and crush his nemesis._

_'_Sun, please! Stop it!_' He pleaded in his mind, wanting to get away from the sounds of Eggman's scream being cut short, briefly replaced by a dying gurgle as Sun was jewing him. Sonic trembled in terror as he then heard the dreaded gulping sound which told him that Sun had just finished eating Eggman and then swallowed what was left of the now would-be ruler of Mobius. It made him feel nauseous to the stomach._

_He then nervously opened one eye and then the other and then turned to stare at the even more monstrous look Sun had and jumped in fright as the giant Werehog howled to the blood red sky. There, Sonic could see the fresh blood crusted onto the giant teeth and his fear increased even further. He gasped again when Sun finally turned his attention to the terrified blue hedgehog, and Sonic, knowing that he was next on the menu, trembled as he crawled backwards away from him as possible._

_"__**YOU'RE NEXT, SONIC. JUST THE RIGHT TASTY DESSERT, TOO.**__" Sun announced._

_"Y-You're...You're a horrible monster!" Sonic exclaimed. All of the courage he had since the very beginning were now gone. The blue hedgehog was just as terrified._

_"__**YES, I AM A MONSTER...AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!**__" Sun bellowed, then grinned evilly. "__**NOW, DON'T MOVE.**__"_

_Sonic shivered as Sun reached out to grab him, but the former didn't want it to happen. Finally having his body to come out of the paralyzing trance, he quickly stood up and made a run for it, narrowly escaping the grasp that almost touched the heels of his red and white shoes and ran in top speed._

_"AAAAAHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he ran into the direction of the wasteland behind the tombstones and graves of his friends and somehow his own grave already built for him. He ran for his life and went into his speed mode to avoid Sun's stretched out arms and screamed louder when the hands almost caught him. The werehog then roared in frustration before giving chase, slower but attempting to catch up._

_The blue hedgehog had no idea where he was going, and at the moment he didn't care. With everyone else dead, and the world still in ruins despite that there was no sign of Dark Gaia, Sonic could only think of survival at this moment and to avoid in being eaten the same way Eggman, the remains of the evil doctor now currently being inside the giant Werehog's stomach which the hero didn't want to be in._

_He knew that running like this was cowardly, but Sonic didn't know what to do and blamed himself for the world's destruction that he failed to stop. Fear and terror and guilt made him keep running through the wastelands and towards a cliffside where he could easily spot a cave up ahead. When he looked over his shoulder, he gasped in horror as Sun was starting to catch up despite being slower. The blue hedgehog could feel the vibrations and quakes the giant monster was making with each foot step._

_"__**YOU CAN'T ESCAPE, SONIC!**__" Sun bellowed._

_"AAAAH! Go away!" Sonic screamed, pleading himself to run faster. He fled into the cave and down into the dark tunnels inside. Behind him the giant Werehog crushed his way into the opening and stretched out his arms to try and capture the blue hedgehog._

_He ran around a corner to his left while sliding down an cave slope, surfing his way to the bottom and flipped as the slope went up and stopped at the large gap which between it and the other side was a large ravine of deep, cerulean water down below. Another thing that terrified Sonic who quickly went into spin mode to reach the other side safely. Landing safely on the other side, Sonic looked back and saw the shadow of the giant monster creeping closer._

_Wasting no time, Sonic ran and turned right, running down the tunnel before taking another left and while behind him Sun was crushing his way through which shook the underground cave. Finally as Sonic turned to his left when he saw a hole in the wall, his luck finally ran out. He found himself in a small room which, still deep enough to stay out of Sun's reach, lead to a dead end._

_"No no no no no!" He cried out, looking for a way out, but found none. It was nothing but rock, all blocked off. He was trapped._

_Then, hearing the thunderous footsteps, Sonic spun around and leaned back, his back touching the cold walls and then covered his mouth to keep himself from making any noise. He hoped that if he didn't make a sound, maybe Sun would walk past and not notice where he actually was so that he could make his escape out of the cave and then figure out what to do and how to restore the world._

_Unfortunately, it did him no good. Because the next thing Sonic knew, Sun's hand was attempting to make the hole bigger, crushing through the rock._

_"AAAHHH! AAAAAAAHHHH!" Sonic screamed in horror, trying to back away, but his hands and back touched the walls and there was no escape. He helplessly watched as Sun continued to make the hole bigger, stretching out his arm to catch the blue hedgehog who screamed even louder. So far, he was briefly lucky as the upper arm got stuck in the hole, forcing the monster to grunt and struggle to pull it out and was still out of Sonic's reach._

_The werehog then successfully pulled his arm free and continued to dig into the hole to make it bigger, roaring as he went. Sonic was panicking beyond belief. He knew that he should at least fight his way out, but given the situation he was in, both fear and the cave had him unable to do so. Finally, Sun made the hole large enough for his arm to fit through with no problems and stretched out to capture the terrified blue hedgehog who gasped in horror, realizing that this was it._

_"Sun, wait! WAAAAAAIT!" Sonic pleaded, but it fell to deaf ears as the hand got closer and closer. He screamed while bracing him, shielding his face with his arms and squeezing his eyes shut once more. "NOOOO!"_

_He gasped as Sun grabbed him before pulling the captured hedgehog out and held him to his face. The giant werehog softly growled in hunger as Sonic tried to pull himself free, but the grip was too strong for him._

_"Let me go! LET, ME, GO!" Sonic shouted, pounding the giant finger that held a tight grip on him. But Sun refused to do so and instead grinned coldly._

_"__**I TOLD YOU. YOU WON'T SURVIVE WHEN I WOULD GET TO YOU. NOW YOU'LL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF ANOTHER DAY.**__" Sun told him, and without giving Sonic a chance to reply, he opened his mouth wide open and began to draw the terrified hedgehog towards it._

_Sonic gasped before trying to lean back, even though he thought to himself in terror. '_I'm done for!_'_

_"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" He screamed as he was soon inside the mouth before everything went pitch black..._

* * *

Sonic jolted upright awake in fright, panting too quickly as he felt cold sweat all over his body before looking around while trying to get his bearings. Trying to figure out where he was with his tired brain, the blue hedgehog let the sight of the guest room of Professor Pickle's home sink in, including the sleeping forms of Tails who was peacefully and silently snoring, and Chip who was sprawled a bit over the edge of his bed, sleeping talking and mumbling something about wanting a large giant piece of strawberry and cream cake.

Once the last of the fog cleared in his mind, Sonic sighed in relief as he realized what just happened. '_It was only a nightmare._' He thought to himself.

More like the mother of all nightmares: Everything that Sonic feared came to him in his dreams all at once; the world ruined, his friends dead, Eggman victorious for a moment before a giant Sun the Werehog devouring him, and then chasing after Sonic himself and capturing him. The blue hedgehog shuddered as the image of the massive mouth still lingered in his mind's vision.

Not to mention, how it seemed so...real really felt like it was...predicting the future or something. Would it really come to that if he failed to put the world back together? If Eggman won? If Sun...if Sun's problem got even worse to the point of growing into a giant Werehog?

Worse, everything that Sonic said earlier really hit the nerve on Sun, yet he'd been lucky that the Werehog hadn't tried to eat him...yet.

_"Because you've been after me and Eggman for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Ever since you showed up, things have gone completely crazy. I wanted to help you find a cure to...well, you know, and I still do. But for some reason, I can't shake off this feeling. How do I know that you weren't lying and that you're with that Egghead just to get rid of me?" Sonic responded suspiciously._

_The Werehog growled darkly by this accusation. "__**What did you **_**say!?**_"_

Sonic softly grunted at his own stupidity and decided that he needed fresh air to calm his nerves. Silently getting off his bed, the blue hedgehog made sure that two of his friends didn't wake up before heading over to the balcony. He slowly opened the glass doors before closing it behind him and, seeing how everyone was still mostly asleep in Spagnoia, leaped off the balcony and onto the roof tops, hopping and running as he went in a speed of sound, the wind blowing on his face as he ran.

Unaware that Chip awoke and having seen him leave the mansion. "H-huh? W-*Yawn* Where's Sonic going?" The pixie asked himself, puzzled as he noticed this.

What everyone didn't even realize was that Sun awoke with a jolt himself before catching glimpse of a familiar blue blur running along the roof tops into the night/early morning.

'_**Where's that loser think he's going?**_' The Werehog thought to himself, raising an eyebrow.

* * *

Sonic always enjoyed the cool wind whipping across his face and quills whenever he ran. He did some acrobatic skills as he went through Spagnoia, which looked kind of dark since the moon had long since been gone, with the stars being the only light source. But that didn't bother the blue hedgehog one bit. In fact, it made this jog even more exciting.

Running through high speed made it look like Sonic was traveling through the speed of light, with the stars looking like they were flying themselves behind him. It also helped him clear his head and calm his nerves whenever he felt rather down even on himself, something that his friends didn't know of.

But as he came to a stop and thankfully felt more relaxed than when he woke up from that nightmare, Sonic sighed as he still had it on his mind. He didn't feel the adrenaline of fear and his body temperature cooled down thanks to the glorious breeze that calmed him down, yet what he dremt about still made him even more uneasy.

He hated seeing destruction of places and worlds. It was devastating and heartbreaking. Seeing the world break apart, Sonic was positive that billions of people, humans and Mobians were killed and that had wrenched his heart so much. He never hated Eggman more than he did back up in that station. It was a huge relief that, despite the world in it's current state, many managed to survive and there wasn't too much damage to cities, which was surprising.

Which made sense considering how Dark Gaia broke apart the world long before Sonic had been born. But that giant monster did it on it's own. Eggman had done it on purpose; to use it's power to build Eggmanland he suddenly realized.

"Geez, that Eggman really plays with things that shouldn't be messed with. Knuckles is right. There's no way that giant guy is gonna listen to him if it comes up again." Sonic muttered to himself, folding his arms to his chest in deep thought.

That still left the problem with Sun, though. Clearly, as Professor Pickle had said, there was a connection with the dark-blue hedgehog's condition and Dark Gaia's rude wake up call. He then gasped as he also realized that to restore the planet was to return the power of the Chaos Emeralds, which were used to break it apart in the first place.

_"The Chaos Emeralds did hold tremendous powers, and they were used to not only break the planet apart, but also bring forth a massive creature no one's even heard of. Considering the machine was used to drain away their powers with you in it and then Sun appearing out of nowhere, perhaps it was a sudden Chaos Control that brought him there and caused him to turn into a monster as you claim." Shadow theoried, folding his arms._

'_Maybe Shadow is right. Maybe Chaos Control did somehow bring Sun over. But that means it also caused him to have a side-effect. Still...it doesn't make any sense why he was brought there while losing his memories in the first place._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself. While he still didn't fully trust the Werehog, guilt began to raise up in his chest for the accussion he displayed.

At the same time, he was scared. That nightmare only made his fear even worse and Sonic didn't fear much of anything except drowning, considering how he couldn't swim. He took a seat on the roof and rested his right arm on his right knee and gazed low at the man-made double river which the reflections of the stars glittered on the water's surface. It was beautiful, but he paid no mind to that.

'_If I can't handle being around Sun without him trying to eat me as a hairy guy, how'm I supposed to save the world? What if I really mess up? Some hero I make._' The blue hedgehog thought miserably.

"Sonic?"

"AH!" Sonic yelped at the unexpected voice startling him out of his thoughts, and whipped around to see who it was, only to find that it was Chip who jumped, startled by his reaction. The blue hedgehog immediately relaxed and sighed, before asking in confusion. "Chip? What're you doing here? I thought you were asleep."

"I was, but I noticed you sneaking out and I got a bit worried. Sorry if I scared you." Chip sheepishly replied.

Feeling embarrassed by his reaction and sheepish that he hadn't been as quiet as he thought, Sonic smiled. "Nah, it's okay. Guess I was thinking so hard that I kinda zoned out."

The amnesiac pixie hovered over before floating down, taking a seat next to the blue hedgehog on his left. "So how come you're out here?"

"Couldn't sleep. I thought a little run would help, which usually does." Sonic shrugged.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

Sonic flinched a little, before sighing and looked up at the sky, a little sadly. "...Yeah. A really bad one." He then quickly added, "But I'm okay! Don't worry about it."

Even though Chip was relieved to hear that his friend wasn't that rattled by the nightmare, or at least he thought so, he couldn't help but notice that...something was kind of sad in the hedgehog's emerald green eyes and it worried him. But he didn't want to push it in case he made the blue hero annoyed.

"So, what were you thinking about?" He asked instead.

Sonic raised an eyebrow, before sighing softly again. Might as well tell someone his worries. Besides, Chip really must've seen how terrified he was last night back at Apotos when Sun held him and threatened to eat his arm off. It was not only embarrassing, but it also stung his pride as not fearing much of anything.

"The whole situation since the planet broke up." He finally admitted, placing his hands behind him to support him as he leaned backwards to get a better view of the night sky. "Eggman really gone and done it this time, but...to tell the truth, I can't help but feel like it's all my fault. The world in pieces, the Chaos Emeralds losing their powers, Sun turning into a Werehog at night...I might even be the cause of you losing your memory, Chip."

"Why do you say that?" Chip blinked, confused about the last part.

"Because I...I might accidentally landed on you and knocking your head. You said yourself; you only remembered something falling from the sky before everything turned white and that's pretty much it." The blue hedgehog muttered guiltily. He turned his guilt-ridden and sad gaze to his friend. "I'm really sorry, Chip. If I'd been more careful, none of this would've happened."

Chip was surprised that Sonic was blaming himself for his memory loss and while he didn't quite get how his friend accidentally landed on top of him caused it to happen, he could see that the blue hedgehog felt awful about it and that is why he willingly offered to help him restore his memories. Both as a friend and as an act to atone for his mistakes.

"It's not your fault, Sonic." The pixie told him assuringly, making Sonic raise an eyebrow. "It's like you said. That Eggman guy started it in the first place. He's a horrible man from what I heard of him. I wanna beat him up for everything he did!" Chip then floated up and made a fighting stance by pretending he was fighting an invisible enemy.

Even though Chip did look a bit silly, Sonic couldn't help but laugh and admire his new friend's sudden bravey, as well as being grateful for his support. He was also right about one thing; Eggman did start all of this, just like he always caused all kinds of problems that were either problematic or just plain cruel. In a way, he realized that Chip had just made him feel better.

"Don't you worry. That Egghead will lose. He always does." The blue hedgehog reassured, standing up as he felt a bit sleepy again. "We should head back. Got an early start tomorrow if we wanna get to that Temple."

Chip stopped what he was doing and nodded. Just as the two were about to turn and head back, Sonic then smiled sincerely at him. "Chip? Thanks."

"For what?" Chip asked.

"For making me feel better, buddy." Sonic answered.

The pixie smiled and the two shared another high-five with a laugh, before the blue hedgehog requested his new friend to hold onto him. Once Chip was secured and held onto his quills, Sonic then ran back to the house in high-speed, unable to help but smirk as the pixie tried not to scream due to the super fast speed, and he wasn't even going at his full speed.

One thing Sonic was certain of, though, was that he will set things right. Eggman will pay for what's done. To do that, however, he had to conquer his biggest challenge he's got in his hands.

His fear of Sun's Werehog form.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter is definitely the last one of 2019. But don't worry! I will update this again in the post-beginning of 2020!**

**Farewell to 2019 and onward to 2020, the new decade! Happy New Year everyone!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Gaia Temple

**Author's Note: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Wow, it's gone by so quickly! So, even though this is a bit late, to celebrate the new year, here's a new chapter of Sonic and the Werehog!**

**I do not own Sonic. The franchise belongs to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 5: The Gaia Temple._

Early next morning, after eating breakfast at Professor Pickle's house(which Pickle himself had, what else? Cucumber Sandwiches), Sonic, Chip, Tails and Sun once again made their way back to Mazuri to find the first Temple in order to restore one of the Chaos Emeralds and restore the Planet. Shadow opted to make his own way and left for another part of the world, while Knuckles went with him when he sensed that the other pieces of the Master Emerald was there.

Sonic himself managed to get back to sleep and thankfully had a nice dream of Chili Dogs as well as exploring the restored world, which when he woke up, he was sad that it had been a dream. But he promised himself to explore it once the world is fully back to normal. Yet he still couldn't be that close to Sun due to him still being in his Werehog form. So he opted to once again ride on top of the plane despite that the middle seat was empty.

Sun in the meantime, looked grumpy and grouchy, yawning once and a while, with dark circles around his eyes. This didn't escape the blue hedgehog's notice as he looked over his shoulder, trying very hard not to let the Werehog's appearance get to him.

"Rough night, huh?" Sonic quipped.

"**That's an understatement. Knuckle-Boy's snoring next door kept me awake most of the night. How can anybody stand sleeping around him?**" The Werehog groaned, glaring at his rival who grinned.

"Never woulda guessed Knuckles to snore that loudly. Then again, he usually likes to go on his own, so I wouldn't know." Sonic laughed.

'_**Great. He didn't get to experience that yet and I'm the one who was stuck the rest of the night with that red idiot as a neighbor.**_' Sun thought bitterly to himself. However, it was more than just the echidna's snoring that kept him awake.

During the night, he had experienced a very rattled dream. The Werehog had no recollection of his own previous dreams, which added to his problem of his memory loss. But this one...he hadn't even seen it coming. As he thought about his lack of sleep, his mind went back to what he'd seen in that dream...

That nightmare...

* * *

_**Flash-Back: The night before...**_

_**Sun's Nightmare...**_

_Sun had no idea where he was or what was happening. He didn't notice a few things that seemed odd and confusing. Maybe even a little terrifying. One, he was a hedgehog despite that it was in the middle of the night. Two, no moon or stars were out, and the sky had a mixture of red and purple. And three, he was on some kind of platform on top of a mountain and there were clouds surrounding him._

_"Where the heck am I?" Sun asked himself, glancing all around him. He remembered sleeping near the window since he found the bed too hot in his fur and the night sky relaxed him. So he had no idea how he got here. Did he lose his memories again between then and now?_

_Before the dark-blue hedgehog could wonder even further, he heard a deep, dark growl that was all too familiar in his ears. Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Sun spun around to see what or who it was...and found himself facing himself, but in his Werehog form, and with deep red glowing eyes, snarling at him darkly._

_"What!? What the!?" Sun exclaimed in shock, only to gasp in pain as his Werehog self grasped him with both clawed hands and held him tightly. The dark-blue hedgehog grunted in pain and struggled to break free from the grip, but was unable to do so. "G-Get your paws off me!"_

_But the Werehog refused, and instead tightened his grip on the original who grunted louder, hissing as he could feel himself being crushed. Just as the captured hedgehog gazed at him, his eyes widened as he suddenly saw something else in his duplicate's place; a giant eye that was the size of a bus gazing straight at him, belonging to a massive colossus monster with an even larger eyeball in the middle with huge horns, massive jaws, long fingered hands with a snake body._

_"Huh?" Sun muttered, before he found himself in the grip of a giant purple tentacle and he struggled to free himself, and then the scenery around him changed to that of a cave below a cliff where he saw, to his further shock, his Werehog self in a giant form, though only half as big as the monster that was keeping him trapped, and looking at the wall with it's arm into the hole, apparently reaching something._

_"NOOOO!"_

_Or rather, someone. Someone extremely familiar he'd come to end up being stuck with for the last two days, one whom he wanted to eat as a Werehog. As Sun struggled to free himself, he glanced up and saw that his duplicant had captured who he thought it was._

_'_Sonic?_' Sun thought to himself, seeing his rival being held to his other self's face. The giant werehog softly growled in hunger as Sonic tried to pull himself free, but the grip was too strong for him._

_"Let me go! LET, ME, GO!" Sonic shouted as he pounded on the giant finger that held a tight grip on him._

_It wasn't until Sun noticed his other self...had blood on his fur, and as the giant Werehog grinned, the dark-blue hedgehog noticed fresh, crusted blood on his fangs which made him feel sick in the stomach. He hated Sonic's guts, and had wanted to eat him as a Werehog. But for some reason, to see his rival about to be eatened by his duplicant, it was...disturbing._

_"__**I TOLD YOU. YOU WON'T SURVIVE WHEN I WOULD GET TO YOU. NOW YOU'LL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF ANOTHER DAY.**__" Sun's Werehog form told the blue hedgehog, and opened his mouth wide open and began to draw the terrified hedgehog towards it._

_Sonic gasped before trying to lean back, and Sun couldn't help but feel his heart freeze up and without realizing what he was doing, struggled harder to free himself, to do something, anything, to save his rival which made no sense. But...he couldn't stand watching the blue hedgehog being eaten by his other self._

_Then the monster he was captured by began to squeeze the life out of him, while dark mists formed around his body which was being absorbed into the colossus._

_"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" He heard Sonic screamed as he looked up, just in time to see Sonic being placed inside the giant Werehog's mouth which was closed shut before both ended up mysteriously vanishing._

_"SONIC!" Sun screamed out in horror. He had no idea why it effected him so badly, but to see his rival gone right before his eyes...and his other self repeating what he said earlier made his heart freeze up. It felt so...wrong. He then gasped in pain before turning back to the monster and then screamed in pain as more black and purple mists were drawn from his body._

_Then, apparently done, the monster then dropped him as lava suddenly appeared underneath them._

_"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sun screamed before everything went black..._

_**Sun's Awakening...**_

_Which was then he woke up with a jolt, panting as he awoke from his nightmare. Sun felt uncomfortably warm, then realized what just happened. Because as the room around him made him see this, but he also caught sight of a familiar blue blur zooming across roofs from his window and instantly recognized as Sonic._

_'_**Where's that loser think he's going?**_'_ _The Werehog thought to himself, raising an eyebrow. What was Sonic, the real Sonic, alive and well, doing?_

_Even though he still disliked him, and his predatory side still itching to eat him, Sun's more...hedgehog side was admittedly relieved to see that Sonic was okay._

_He then groaned and placed a hand to his forehead. '_**Ugh. Why am I relieved? It's his fault I'm stuck like this.**_' He thought to himself._

_Deciding to forget about it, and even though the dream did leave him feeling raw, Sun decided to get some more sleep._

_And then he heard Knuckles' snoring through the walls._

* * *

__**Back in the Present...**__

'_**What was that giant, ugly thing? And why did my cursed form have a form of it's own? Not to mention grow into a giant to eat the blue loser?**_' Sun thought to himself as he tried to figure out a reason for the nightmare that came all of the sudden to him.

On top of that, Sonic's words from last night echoed once more in his mind; about his accusation.

_"It's bad enough that stupid loser broke the entire planet and I couldn't do anything to stop him no matter how hard I tried, and not to make things worse, but I'm beginning to think that you not remembering who you are or how you got there was all a set up! Eggman tricked me once, I'm not letting that happen again!"_

_"Just tell me! Who _are_ you? If you were tricked into going for his schemes, then I suggest you quit now while you still can. If he wins and takes over the world, you're finished! He'll destory you and turn you into one of his toys. He's done that before and it was horrible!"_

As much as it angered him for such a theory, Sun couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt rise in his chest, which he didn't understand. He didn't think it was because he felt bad for trying to kill Sonic, but thought that maybe it was because he was gullible. Not to mention that there were times when he forced himself not to out right eat him like the first time, and strained himself from eating the blue hedgehog's arm off.

Then a terrifying thought came into his mind, which had something inside him roar at him to ignore it. But Sun refused to listen and instead focused on his thoughts.

'_**Is the connection with Dark Gaia making the monster side of me begin to take over? Or is it to separate from me?**_' The Werehog thought to himself, glancing down at his hands. Suddenly the nightmare began to rattle him even more.

"Sun? Hey, Sun!"

Blinking out of his troubled thoughts, Sun glanced up to see Sonic stare him, with a mixture of fear in his eyes, but what caught the Werehog slightly off-guard was...the look of concern on the blue hedgehog's face and within his eyes as well.

"You okay? What's wrong?" Sonic asked, curiously.

"**I'm fine. Why do you care?**" Sun quickly looked away in irritation, regaining his composture.

Even though Sonic sensed that there was something going on, and it hadn't escaped his notice that Sun had been staring at his hands with a worried expression, plus he also suddenly felt that he knew that the Werehog was wondering if he can be cured or something along the lines, the blue hedgehog decided not to push it. If Sun didn't want to talk about it right now, Sonic would leave it at the moment.

"Just checking." He replied, before looking ahead once more. Sonic also took notice that both Tails and Chip, who had been chatting during the flight while the young fox concentrated on flying at the same time, noticed as well and glanced up at him in confusion and worry. He just shrugged cluelessly.

But as he thought about it, Sonic recalled how his nightmare went, and even though he felt better thanks to both his usual jog and Chip cheering him up, the blue hedgehog couldn't help but feel uneasy again. Then again, that concerned, thoughtful look on Sun's face he'd just got a glimpse of...

Was something wrong with him?

Sonic thought back of how all of this started, and while he knew, or at least he hoped, that the nightmare wasn't real, he felt guilt rise up again and remembered what the Nightmare-Sun had told him before chasing him and finally catching and gobbling him whole before he woke up.

_"__**YES, I AM A MONSTER...AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!**__"_

'_Maybe it is all my fault. I got too cocky and look what happened._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, before mentally shaking his head and his determination returned to him as he also remembered that things had gotten bad before and it always worked out. It can happen again. '_No way! I'm not gonna let that slow me down! Besides, we can do this. No spooky nightmare is gonna make me give up._'

But just as he gazed up ahead, he, Tails, Chip and even Sun then noticed something metal and flying. Sonic blinked as he then saw that, to his annoyance but expectation, was a flying mobile with a couple of robots seemingly bodyguarding it. Sonic and Tails both instantly recognized it.

"Whoa! What's that?" Chip exclaimed, stunned.

"It's Eggman and his robots!" Tails exclaimed, shocked but also annoyed.

"What's that clown up to now?" Sonic asked, exasperated. He'd known that he'd be facing the evil scientist again sooner or later, though he wished that it wasn't now of all times.

"**Who cares? Now that he's here, this mean we can scramble him?**" Sun quipped, only to see that the sun was now rising as they were nearing the late morning of Mazuri, which ultimately made him grunt before the transformation was done and he was again a hedgehog.

"Well, it's too bad you can't scare him off as a werehog right now. Kinda was looking forward to see his face when he saw you again." Sonic smirked.

"Oh, shut up." Sun groaned.

"But we can give him a surprise leap." The blue hedgehog added with a wink. "Good enough for ya for a beating?"

Sun glared at him, before thinking about and for once in three days since meeting him, thought that Sonic's suggestion wasn't a bad idea. He returned the smirk and queried, "For the head?"

"You bet!" Sonic replied eagerly. He then turned to Tails and said, "Tails, have us hover a bit so that Egghead doesn't notice. We'll be using his mobile as a trampoline."

"You got it!" Tails laughed, already giggling at the thought of Sonic and Sun using Eggman's mobile as a landing pillow.

"I'm going too!" Chip perked up with a grin, which made his friends impressed by this act of bravery. "I wanna give that Eggman a lecture before teaching him a bigger lesson!"

"Wow. Eggman's really on everyone's hatred list." Sun smirked.

"Ah, he's never been that much liked of a guy, anyway." Sonic shrugged nonchalantly.

It was moments before Tails hovered over where Eggman was, and that's when Sonic, Sun and Chip made their entrance with style.

* * *

The Village of Mazuri was in a state of fear. It's people, both humans and lionesses and lions, as well as a couple of Zebras were gathered in fear as Eggman was in his mobile with two of his robots standing tall, threateningly leering down at the people. With Eggman were not only Decoe, Becoe, and Bokkun, but also another small robot, Orbot, one of the evil doctor's latest, and most annoying, creations.

"Who are you!? What are you doing here?" The leader of the tribe, an old man, demanded.

Eggman laughed evilly, before greeting mockingly. "Fear not, my dear villagers! I am Dr. Eggman. Now, if you behave, nothing bad will happen. Now, could you tell me where the Gaia Temple is?"

"Yeah, and if you answer, we'll leave you alone." Decoe added.

"The Doctor is being generous today, so it's fair not to jump to conclusions." Becoe continued.

"Not that they're wrong about this conclusion." Bokkun muttered to himself silently.

"No way! Scram!" One little boy yelled angrily, and before his mother or anybody else could stop him, he tossed a rock and hit Eggman right in the face.

"OW!" Eggman yelled, which the impact of the rock caused him to start seeing stars circle around his head, while he was dazed. Orbot saw this and laughed hysterically, only for both Decoe and Becoe to quickly panic before they jumped and shoved him down before Eggman could attack.

"Shut up, Orbot!" Decoe and Becoe chorused, while Eggman recovered and glared angrily at not just the robots(or mainly Orbot and was thankful for Decoe and Becoe for shutting him up), but also at the little boy who was then pulled back protectively by his mother.

"You'll pay for that, you little brat!" Bokkun yelled angrily. "Eggman's already bald enough as it is!" He added before realizing it.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Eggman yelled angrily, scaring the three other robots, before clearing his throat and then turned his attention to the villagers with an evil smile. "Alright then. If that's how you want to do it, then I'll force it out of you!"

But before he could launch his attack, all of the sudden there was a blue blur zooming down past him, catching Eggman by surprise as it then smashed the larger robots in the process, destroying them and saving the stunned villagers. Before Eggman could say anything, something landed right on top of his head which shoved him low and ended up slightly squashing his three minions who cried out as they were being used as hard pillows. The weight then lifted off which gave Eggman the chance to look up, and saw one of his worst nightmares.

Because the blue blur was none other than Sonic, who was alive and well. With him was an unfamiliar dark-blue hedgehog that resembled to the blue hero, and some kind of small pixie; Sun the Hedgehog and Chip.

"Whaaat!? _Sonic!_" Eggman growled, as Sonic, Sun and Chip landed on the ground and turned to face him. "And who are those two!?"

"Don't remember seeing these two guys before." Becoe commented, shocked and surprised to see Sonic still okay while confused about Sun and Chip.

"Why does that new hedgehog look like Sonic but in different colour?" Decoe asked, confused.

"And why does his fur look familiar?" Bokkun added, dumbfounded. Before yelling out angrily. "But seriously! You again!?"

"Yo, Eggman!" Sonic greeted with a smirk, sarcastically adding. "Thanks for that skydiving trip the other day."

Eggman growled furiously. "I should have known you'd still be alive, you stubborn little hedgehog!"

"Maybe you should have expected it and gone after him since he's too stubborn to die, fatso." Sun dryly suggested, glaring at him with heated anger and dislike at the evil doctor who raised an eyebrow at him. He then added with a smirk. "Not to mention getting a trim for your stupid mustache. What're you trying to look like; an egg-shaped cat or something?"

That made Sonic, Chip and even a couple of villagers laugh at the sarcastic comment as they saw the mental image of Eggman as an egg-shaped cat, complete with cat ears and a tail.

"Good one, Sun!" Sonic praised through laughter, wiping away a tear.

"HOW DARE YOU!?" Eggman yelled over the insult of the unfamiliar hedgehog. Yet he couldn't help but feel like that the dark-blue fur reminded him of something and had no idea how or why. He was unaware that this was the one whom was a Werehog that appeared out of nowhere, though.

"His mustache does kind of look like cat whiskers." Bokkun couldn't help but comment.

"I can't get that image out of my head." Decoe admitted, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, it's actually pretty funny." Becoe added, which made the doctor even more insulted.

"BE QUIET, YOU HEAPS OF METAL SCRAPS!" Eggman bellowed furiously at the trio who yelped in fright and cowered in fear.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Sonic questioned suspiciously.

Eggman glared down at his enemy and responded with an evil smile, chuckling. "I see no reason to tell you or your new friends, Sonic. In that case, I'm busy. Farewell!"

"Hey, where're you think you're going!?" Sun yelled, just as Eggman drove his mobile high and flew away. "Get your Egg-Butt back here!"

"Yeah! That's playing dirty! Come back!" Chip shouted angrily, but by then, Eggman, Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun and Orbot(who was still pushed down) disappeared into the sky.

"Just ignore him." Sonic told the duo calmly.

Even though Sun was irritated by this, he grudgingly knew that Sonic was right. Plus, there was a chance that they'd run into him again while here anyway. So the dark-blue hedgehog sighed and grumbled in annoyance. "Chicken-wuss."

"Is everybody here alright?" Sonic asked the villagers who all nodded and expressed their gratitude to him and his two companions.

"Indeed. We thank you and your friends for saving us." The leader spoke kindly and wisely. "I am Mnyambo, the leader and shaman of our village."

Sonic smiled and greeted with a wave. "Hey there. I'm-"

"Sonic the Hedgehog." Mnyambo gently interrupted and finished with a kind smile. "And these must be your allies and friends; Sun the Hedgehog and Chip."

"Huh?" Sonic gasped, caught off-guard. That greatly surprised the trio as they shared stunned and dumbfounded glances. While he had expected this to happened given how Eggman pretty much said his name, and Sonic himself mentioned Sun's, but he didn't say anything about Chip.

"Is he a psychic?" Sun whispered to the others who shrugged, just as confused.

The blue hedgehog glanced back at the shaman and asked. "Uhhhhh...How'd you know that?"

"I have a gift to foresee future and past events, yet I had to pretend I knew nothing of Dr. Eggman." Mnyambo explained.

"Oh! I get it." Sonic muttered, quickly catching on. "If Eggman found out you can see the past and the future, which is totally cool by the way, he'd end up kidnapping you, right?"

"Smart move." Sun commented, and was a bit surprised that Sonic had caught this on quickly. Maybe the blue hedgehog wasn't that big of an idiot as he thought. He knew what he was doing, just had a bit of a slip a few days ago.

"Whoaaaa! You can really see the past and the future? That's amazing!" Chip exclaimed in awe. He then asked hopefully, "Um, if you don't mind me asking, Mr. Mnyambo, would that mean you know about my memories and Sun's too?"

Unfortunately, Mnyambo apologetically shook his head. "I'm afraid our planet's current position has faltured my powers. It's ancient past clouds even my greatest abilities, especially those who are effected by it."

"Aww..." Chip slumped, disappointed that he and Sun were nowhere near closer in finding out what happened to their memories.

"Figures." Sun shrugged, not surprised but still disappointed none the less.

Mnyambo then continued, "However, your meeting with young Sonic has allowed me to foresee your challenges up ahead."

He then turned to the aforementioned blue hedgehog and continued. "You have restored much of my power, young hedgehog."

"I did?" Sonic asked, blinking in surprise. "How'd I do that?"

"Perhaps it's best explained later, young Sonic. Firstly, I'm afraid Dr. Eggman seeks the Gaia Temple. If he reaches it, all will be lost in our home and for the world." Mnyambo replied. "I must request you and your friends to reach it first and stop him."

While wondering what was needed to be explained, Sonic decided to worry about that later and focus on the more important thing; like reaching the Temple and stopping Eggman.

So he winked and gave the shaman a thumbs up. "Sure, no problem! Where is it?"

"Follow this road to the Giant Vine Tree. There is a path that will lead you directly to the ancient temple itself. Be warned. It will be very dangerous. Be vigilant, young travelers." Mnyambo gestured with his staff on a path into the jungle between a tent and a low-ground large tree house.

"Sweet! Thanks, Mnyambo!" Sonic replied.

"Thanks a bunch, Mr. Mnyambo!" Chip added happily, before offering him and practically the entire village several bars of the familiar sweet. "Want some chocolate?"

Sun collapsed onto the ground in disbelief with a groan anime-style at the gesture, while Sonic blinked, dumbfounded at how many bars of chocolate the little pixie managed to have stored and bought.

'_He must've bought a whole lot back at Apotos._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself.

"I'll never understand this." Sun groaned, face-palming himself.

* * *

After waiting a few minutes for Tails and explaining a bit to him about Mnyambo and where the Gaia Temple is located, Sonic, Sun and Chip quickly made their way onto the path that the shaman directed them. Even though they were a bit wiry(or in Chip's case, practically nervous) of the dangers the jungle had to offer, Sonic was excited to run through this place. It was an area he'd never seen before and he was willing to pass through the dangers just for the opportunity to explore.

"Woooohoooo! Yeah, baby!" Sonic cheered happily as he ran through the densed jungle so fast that it's hidden carnivores had no idea what had passed them or that three delicious meals were even within. Especially since the blue hedgehog was holding onto Sun's right hand while Chip was holding onto his quills for dear life.

"Whooooooaaaaa! So faaaaaaaaast!" Chip screamed while holding on. Even though he experienced this back at Apotos and last night back in Spagonia, but somehow he didn't think he'd ever get used to this.

"Can't you slow down!?" Sun shouted as he couldn't even touch the ground. They were going so fast that he couldn't see where they were going. It was bad enough that Sonic defeated him with his speed, but this was just a bit too much even by his standards.

Sonic couldn't help but chuckle at their reactions. "No time for that!"

'_How can he stand this!?_' The dark-blue hedgehog thought incredulously, feeling more than a little freaked out by this experience.

The blue hedgehog's smile didn't falter as he ran, enjoying the wind whipping on his face. Even as he noticed five robots up ahead rapidly being approached, he smirked and told the others to hold on tight before he increased his speed. Sonic did quick work with one while Sun, seeing this, briefly let go despite nearly sent flying and gave another a hard punch on the head, smashing it into smithereens. Sonic then went into his spin mode after briefly telling Chip to let go and wait before smashing two more in a matter of seconds.

Sonic then took care of the last one with a combination of punches and kicks and then landed on the ground facing it. He then taunted the robot by making a funny face and then ran as the robot, steaming up in anger, charged which was a big mistake on it's part. The blue hedgehog then ran up a half-giant tree and flipped in midair and over the robot who saw this too late and then ended up smashing face first before comically falling backwards and fell into a large pond where it's explosion was quickly put out due to the water.

"Done and dusted!" Sonic declared.

"Are Eggman's robots always this easy and stupid?" Sun asked as he and Chip approached.

"Only when they're a bunch of slowpokes." The blue hedgehog shrugged with a wink. "We should get going before Eggman shows up."

His companions nodded in agreement and once again holding onto him, Sonic took off in high speed down the path, leaping over huge tree roots, vine-surfing onto another large tree down through deeper into the jungle while cheering on and enjoying the ride, and allowed Sun some breather to try it out himself, which the dark-blue hedgehog had to admit as he copied Sonic's movement, he found that he was enjoying himself as well.

'_Hey, this is actually fun._' Sun thought to himself, feeling a smile form on his face. But as Sonic glanced over his shoulder and smiled, the dark-blue hedgehog quickly regained his composure and glared at him which only seemed to make his rival's smirk widen, making him realize that the blue hedgehog had caught on. '_Ugh. I can't believe that smirk of his and idea of fun is infecting me._'

Still, even though he still didn't like Sonic the Hedgehog, Sun couldn't deny that maybe he'd underestimated him. While his Werehog side still longed for the blue hedgehog's blood, earlier this morning he noticed that Sonic tried to face him with a slightly guilt-ridden look and fear which reminded him of his nightmare. Sonic was far from stupid, he was just too cocky for his own good.

Plus, now that he thought about it, the idea of eating Sonic started to lose it's appeal. At least Sun thought it was losing the appeal.

The trio made it to the bottom and Sonic once again took over most of the trip, avoiding over-grown snakes that nearly engulfed them which the blue hedgehog dodged easily and continued running, hopping onto large flowers with some just as dangerous, and then coming across a huge lake. Just as Sonic nearly skid to a stop as he gasped in shock due to his fear of drowning, he then noticed logs and rocks that reached to the other side. This gave him an idea.

'_Phew. That saves me the trouble._' Sonic thought to himself in relief, and used the logs and rocks to his advantage, hopping onto them with perfect timing while Sun and Chip held on for dear life.

"Watch out for that Hippo!" Chip exclaimed all of the sudden, noticing something grey and rising from the water which was a gap between one rock to another. But Sonic didn't stop as he knew if he did, they were going to end up in water and that'd be the end of the line. The Hippo just rose up and opened it's massive mouth wide for a yawn, unaware of what was about to happen.

"Sorry!" Sonic cried out apologetically as he hopped onto the Hippo's back and then leaped before continuing onward. The Hippo's eyes widened with a shocked and dumbfounded expression for feeling something bounce onto it's back and wondered what it was.

They kept going until they finally reached the other side and even then Sonic didn't stop, but he did sigh in relief, which didn't escape notice from Chip and Sun.

"What's wrong, Sonic?" Chip asked, curiously.

"Alright, what's with you and water?" Sun questioned suspiciously.

"It's kinda embarrassing to say it, but...I can't swim." Sonic replied, sheepishly, feeling his face turn a bit pink in embarrassment. "If I end up in deep water, I'll sink faster than a rock."

"How can you sink like a rock if you're as fast as the wind?" The pixie asked, shocked and confused.

The blue-hedgehog gave a one-shoulder shrug. "Tough luck, I guess."

"Unbelievable." Sun shook his head. "Sonic the Hedgehog, scared of water like he's a cat."

"Hey, put a cork in it!" Sonic snapped, annoyed. "Can't a guy have at least one disadvantage in life?"

His rival smirked and then teased, "Maybe you should rename yourself Sonic the Cat."

"And maybe I should call you Sun the Dog while I'm at it, considering how you bark all the time." The blue hedgehog responded sarcastically.

"Ha, ha. Amusing." The dark-blue hedgehog replied dryly. Trust Sonic to come up with a retort. '_Ugh. Blue loser._' He thought to himself.

'_Cranky punk._' Sonic thought at the same time, annoyed. He was a bit relieved that Sun didn't take the retort too hard like the last few days, and he didn't even make a threat this time either. The blue hedgehog felt his stomach turn again as memories of his rival's Werehog form attempting to eat him came into mind. He then mentally shook his head and forced himself not to think about it. They had a job to do, and Sonic was going to make sure of it.

'_I hope this doesn't go on forever._' Chip thought to himself, exasperated.

* * *

After what felt like a few hours, Sonic, Sun and Chip finally arrived at the bridge-like road which was huge. The Giant Vine Tree, and it sure lived up to it's name. But as the trio ran(or flew now in Chip's case) across which reminded Sonic of a jungle, nature version of a highway bridge at Station Square, when they heard the engines of something familiar.

Looking behind them and seeing it catch up to Sonic's normal speed was none other than the evil doctor in his now larger flying mobile.

"Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed angrily. Trust that Egghead to catch up.

"_Now_ he shows up." Sun grunted in irritation.

Eggman smirked evilly at his enemies as he made his latest invention go faster. "Having made it this far, Sonic? But I'll see you at the front!"

The evil doctor then spun his huge robot facing Sonic and his friends as the blue hedgehog skid to a stop, while Eggman attaches his hovercraft onto the main part of the robot to control it. "Presenting, my one prized gem: The Egg Beetle!"

"The Egg Beetle?" Sun repeated, skeptically and in disbelief, before scoffing. "No wonder everyone calls you Eggman."

Sonic shook his head with a smirk. "Let's squash that Egg-Bug. Ready?" He said, while adjusting his shoes and got ready to fight and maybe have some fun.

Sun nodded with a smirk of his own, while Chip did some karate movements. The trio stood in position as Eggman made the first attack by firing a missile at them. But Sonic grabbed hold of his two companions and easily dodged, before running after the Egg Beetle as it then flew off along the bridge-road. The trio chased the machine while Eggman attempted to get rid of them with missiles and claws.

"Is that all you got?" Sun taunted, as he whacked one claw with an impressive punch. It wasn't as destructive as his punches as a Werehog, but the dark-blue hedgehog found that, while he wasn't as fast as Sonic, he was actually half way close.

"C'mon, even a baby could avoid that!" Sonic added, snickering. He flipped and rolled to increase his speed and smashed another claw in his spin mode, and continued to run after the Egg Beetle.

Sonic and his friends continued to follow him while avoiding Eggman's attacks while the evil scientist laughed manically, and then taunted the blue hedgehog while fiddling with a couple of switches and buttons to end his nemesis. "HAHAHAHA! You unsuspecting little hedgehog. My Egg Beetle's claws will tear you to shreds!

"We'll see about that, Egghead!" Sonic replied with a smirk, zipping from left to right as he avoided more missiles before going even faster. Just as Eggman controlled the claw to stretch out and grab him before slicing him into pieces, the blue hedgehog used this to his advantage. He curled up into his spin mode and smashed through the claw which sent it repelling into Eggman, hitting him.

"OW!" The evil doctor cried out, before yelling furiously. "Curse you! You're still rude as always!"

Eggman became so frustrated that he fired even more missiles, but Sonic axe-kicked two while Sun smacked and spun-punched two more, all four missiles hitting the Egg Beetle, and stunning it as well as Eggman who screamed as he was feeling the intensed heat beginning to form.

"Yoohoo!" A voice squeaked from his left. Confused, Eggman looked only to see Chip fly along side him before hovering in front and made goofy faces.

"Rah! Out of my SIGHT!" Eggman shouted at the pixie.

"Okay then! Toodles!" Chip waved, and flew up. Unfortunately for Eggman, he realized too late that this was a distraction because Sonic leaped up towards him with a smirk on his face.

"Eat this, Eggman!" Sonic taunted, kicking hard at the controls and knocking the evil man off of his seat and onto the floor. The blue hedgehog then jumped and dodged just in time for one of the claws to smash right into the Egg Beetle in the middle, causing a malfunction. Sonic then went into his spin mode once more and hit the machine five times while Sun ran up and jumped before giving the side of it a powerful punch.

With the Egg Beetle about to explode, Eggman knew he had no choice but to retreat and growled furiously while un-attaching his hover-craft from the destroyed machine. "I'll remember this, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

As Eggman made his escape and flew away, the Egg Beetle had then exploded into nothing. Fortunately, Sonic and his companions were perfectly fine as they skid to a stop, knowing that they had driven off the mad scientist for the time being.

"Ha! Same as ever. All bark, and no bite!" Sonic commented with a smirk.

"That was ridiculously easy. I was expecting more of a challenge." Sun remarked, placing a hand on his hip.

"You did great there, Sun." The blue hedgehog praised with a thumbs up. "Those punches were just as impressive as they were in your Werehog form. Might even make Knuckles jealous if he saw you in action like this."

The other hedgehog raised an eyebrow in surprise at his rival's compliment. He then looked away while regaining himself and muttered nonchalantly. "It was nothing."

Sonic though noticed a hint of pink on Sun's nuzzle and tried not to laugh. Even though he was still terrified of his rival's Werehog form, the blue hedgehog thought that, the taunt back leaving the lake aside, maybe, just maybe, that they could get along after all. Slowly but surely as long as Sonic was careful and keeping to his promise in curing Sun.

He then turned to Chip and added, "Awesome job in distracting Eggman, Chip! Real great lesson you gave him." he gave the pixie a thumbs up and a wink, making his smaller friend blush.

"Aw, thanks!" Chip laughed, before flying over to the edge of the bridge. He then noticed something and gasped in awe. "Hey guys, look!"

Curious on what Chip saw, Sonic and Sun walked over and peered down on. There stood an enormous ancient, relic built temple placed in a giant tree bark. Bright, colourful ribbons were tied on the tree brances. It was an amazing sight that none of them have ever seen before.

"Is that the Temple of Gaia?" Sonic wondered aloud in awe.

"Well, it's definitely not a farm house." Sun replied, rolling his eyes.

"Let's check it out." Chip said excitedly, and the two hedgehog nodded in agreement.

"Can't wait to go exploring!" Sonic declared, as he, Chip and Sun(who again rolled his eyes), jumped off the ledge and leaped towards the direction of the temple. Sonic and Sun used a couple of giant branches that didn't have ribbons to their advantage and hopped onto them towards the ground. Chip made sure to use his flight without bumping into anything or crashing.

* * *

Once they made it, the trio entered the Temple, walking along the long hallway into the darkness. All around them were pillars aqua-green fluorescent crystals that thankfully gave out the source of light to help them see where they were going. Needless to say, the trio were fascinated by their new surroundings.

"Whoa..." Sonic breathed.

"Wow...awesome." Chip muttered in awe.

"This is way past cool." The blue hedgehog muttered, utterly amazed beyond belief.

"Gotta admit, this place is neat." Sun commented with a smile on his face. "Whoever built it sure had good taste."

Sonic nodded in agreement. "No kidding. It kinda feels like we're in another world."

Eventually Sonic, Chip and Sun reached the end of the temple and into a large chamber circled with green flames just below an circular altar with a couple of stairs, an ancient looking tablet on the wall written in a language that none of them could understand, and a hole in the ceiling. The tablet reminded Sonic of the ancient paintings in the Mystic Temple that foretold the prophecy of Perfect Chaos causing destruction if and when it engulfed all of the Chaos Emeralds.

"Sonic, Sun! There's something weird in the middle of that place!" Chip pointed at the chamber.

'_Thank you, Captain Obvious._' Sun thought to himself sarcastically, as he and Sonic followed Chip who flew over and peered into a square hole of an odd looking square-shaped pillar in the middle of the altar.

"Hey, what's this hole?" Chip wondered aloud, peering into it for a closer look. Seeing this however made Sonic gasp in worry as he didn't think getting that close to the unusual pillar inside the Temple was such a good idea.

"Chip, wait!" Sonic quickly warned, not wanting to take any chances. "There could be some kind of-"

He was cut off when the Temple shook and he and Sun both cried out in alarm. Chip, not seeing that the green gem on his necklace glowed, panicked and hurried back to the others in fright. He hid behind Sonic who stood in defense while holding out one arm to protect his friend, and Sun glared hard, half-expecting some kind of Temple Guardian or whatever to appear.

The pillar's edges in the meantime began to glow with ancient writting on it, before it opened up a secret small door in the middle and another smaller, short pillar emerged with a round hole in it. Just as the shaking stopped, Sonic and Sun relaxed a little.

"What's this?" Sonic wondered aloud, as he decided to investigate. As he walked closer with caution, Sun and a very nervous Chip followed. The two hedgehogs walked up the stairs to get a closer look at the new pillar within the pillar. The trio then peered into the hole curiously.

"Uhhhh...What's with this hole?" Sun asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hmmm..." Sonic hummed thoughtfully. It looked big enough to fit something...something, diamond shaped? Then an idea occured in his mind and muttered. "Maybe..."

Deciding to try out his theory, Sonic pulled out one of the Chaos Emeralds from his quills and gazed at it thoughtfully before placing it into the hole. It was the perfect fit. Just then, green lights flashed surrounding the Chaos Emerald which was then lifted into the air in a pillar of green light which shot up into the hole of the ceiling. Sonic, Chip and Sun watched in awe as the Chaos Emerald then glowed brighter, turning from it's dull, black colour, into a bright green colour that the blue hedgehog was familiar with, and it's energy being restored.

The Green Chaos Emerald had regained it's power!

"Yay! The Chaos Emerald's come back to life!" Chip cheered happily.

"That's cool." Sun admitted, blinking in surprise.

"I get it. This _is_ the Gaia Temple. No wonder Eggman was keen in taking over this place." Sonic realized, smiling in relief and amazement as he looked around the area. He turned to his companions as they all shared a nod, only for the entire Temple to rumble, this time more violently which caused them to scream in fright.

"What's happening!?" Chip cried out hysterically.

"Oh no! Hope the Temple's not gonna do what I think it is!" Sonic exclaimed worriedly, thinking that somehow they accidentally triggered a fail-safe and that the Temple is about to collapse.

"Get down!" Sun shouted, and Sonic quickly held Chip in his arms before crouching low, protecting the terrified pixie. The dark-blue hedgehog crouched as well as they all braced themselves for the worst despite Sonic wanting to make a run for it even though he had no idea how to get to the Chaos Emerald without causing it to lose it's power again.

'_Please don't let the temple fall apart, please don't let the temple fall apart, please don't let the temple fall apart!_' The blue hedgehog pleaded in his mind. It seemed to go on forever, yet Sonic and his friends didn't see or hear any signs of the temple's ceiling's breaking or even the pillars all around them cracking.

Then, with a huge giant rumble as though something was fitting in, the quakes stopped. Sonic, Sun, and Chip hesitantly opened their eyes after realizing that they were okay, and saw that nothing was in ruins. Not even a single tiny crack. The Green Chaos Emerald was still glowing and floating, and it seemed as though nothing happened. The trio slowly stood up in surprise and confusion, while Chip hopped onto Sonic's head once more.

"What was that?" Sonic asked, incredulously.

"No idea." Sun said, more than a little rattled. "Let's get outta here before something else happens."

"Yeah, good idea." His rival laughed nervously. As he and the others were just racing out, a familiar voice called out Sonic's name.

Sonic, Chip and Sun looked up to see Tails approaching them while flying. As the two hedgehogs skid to a stop, Sonic briefly forgot that he had a passenger on his head and Chip was accidentally thrown off before landing face first on the floor, making the blue hedgehog flinch when he saw what happened.

"Oops. Sorry, buddy." Sonic muttered sheepishly.

"Sonic! You did it! The planet...One of the Planet's fragments was put back into place!" Tails cheered happily as he landed on the ground.

"Really!? Awesome!" Sonic cheered in joy, sharing a high-five with Chip who recovered.

"How'd you know?" Sun asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Look at this!" Tails pulled out his mini-monitor and showed it to the others who gazed at it curiously. To their great surprise, the video recording from the satille revealed the world's current situation. Then from the atmosphere there was a huge pillar of light and their eyes widened in amazement. The continanent of Apotos, Spanogia and Mazuri was then covered in blue aura before it was slowly being put back into place, back to it's original position.

"BEAUTIFUL!" Sonic cheered happily, greatly relieved.

"At explains the Earthquake, only in reverse." Sun commented, realizing that the violent tremor they felt was the continant they were on returning back to normal.

"At this rate, you'll have the planet back together in no time, Sonic." Tails smiled in relief.

Sonic smirked in relief and in excitement, as he said full of confidence and a thumbs up. "A planet-sized jigsaw puzzle? Sounds like a great excuse to see the world."

'_See the world? So he wants to explore the planet. That...doesn't sound too bad, I suppose._' Sun thought to himself as he gazed skeptically at Sonic. The blue hedgehog really must love Mobius so much he wants to see it all, hence to why he would risk his life constantly to protect it and/or save it from Eggman. Insults aside, and he still wanted to get back at Sonic, the dark-blue hedgehog was finding himself confused of why he was...feeling compassion. Or was it something else? He didn't know.

Mentally shaking away those thoughts, Sun returned to his dark-ish attitude and said. "If we're done here, can we get going?"

Sonic, still not much liking Sun himself, decided that it was time to go anyway, and he, Chip and Tails nodded before the group raced out of the Gaia Temple, with Sonic promising himself to come back to retrieve the Chaos Emerald later once the world was back to normal.

One Chaos Emerald and piece of Mobius restored, six more to go.

* * *

It hadn't taken the group long before they were back at the village, with the Tornado 1 waiting patiently for Tails, Sonic, Chip and Sun to return. Also waiting for them was Mnyambo who was standing by the entrance of the jungle.

"I see that you have restored the Chaos Emerald and part of our world to their original state." The shaman spoke warmly.

"Yep! We managed to get to the Gaia Temple and chased off Eggman." Sonic reported with a wink and a thumbs up.

"Wonderful." Mnyambo praised in relief. "I had strong faith in you and your friends, young hedgehog."

"Piece of cake." The blue hedgehog replied. "We'll have the world back to normal before you know it!"

The leader nodded. "You have such a courageous, pure heart. Now then, come with me, young Sonic. I would like to have a chat with you in private. We can talk in my humble home. My people will see to your friends until we return."

"Uh, sure." Sonic blinked, confused. He glanced at his friends who looked just as puzzled, before shrugging and followed Mnyambo, while Tails, Chip and Sun were greeted by a wise Zebra in his early thirties.

"Right this way, young gentlemen. We will prepare you meals. You must be hungry." The Zebra gestured, just as Chip's stomach growled. The pixie moaned and held his stomach in hunger.

"Boy, going to the Temple made me so hungry again." Chip moaned, which had Tails chuckle in slight embarrassment while Sun shook his head, exasperated.

'_Ugh. Makes you wonder if the squirt's stomach is bigger than his body._' The dark-blue hedgehog thought in annoyance.

* * *

Sonic followed the human tribe leader into the latter's home which was unlike the other homes he'd seen. It was built into a large, giant tree like the Gaia Temple, only it was more homey and, well, a few things he couldn't actually describe. It had about five steps to the front door which was made of what could be as ancient, looking wood kept in perfect condition.

Half way at the top was an large hut-like place with a balcony that overlooked most of the village and Sonic guessed seeing parts of the jungle too. It looked more like a Class-A tree house. The blue hedgehog couldn't help but wonder if the tree house was Mnaymbo's home or the main inside of the huge tree was.

Mnyambo entered the building with Sonic close behind, and continued along the large, dim-lit hallway inside the tree. As they walked, the teenager noticed how it was lit up by torches, decorated with native masks hanging on the walls, paintings of history or scenery of the jungle. It was impressive, but as they walked, he couldn't help but feel like that they weren't alone.

'_Geez, kinda creepy in here._' Sonic thought to himself. Deciding to be on alert, he continued onward while making sure there weren't any kinds of danger which made no sense, considering how Mnyambo was a nice guy and would have warned him. Right?

The more they walked, however, the more the blue hedgehog felt increasingly nervous, unaware that a black silhouette of something was scuttering across the ceiling following them. It kept an eye on Sonic who suddenly felt a presence right behind him. Softly gasping and freezing with paranoia hitting him and the first thing he thought was Sun in his Werehog form, before remembering that it was still daylight, so his rival wouldn't be transforming several hours yet, the blue hedgehog slowly turned around...

Only to feel something ruffle at his quills that made him shudder in fear and spun around quickly to identify the stalker and saw something with glowing red eyes glaring right back at him, much too close to his face.

"AAAHHHHH!" Sonic screamed in fright, jumping one foot into the air before falling onto floor and crawled backwards away a bit. The 'stalker' gave a terrified shriek before it emerged from the shadows...and revealed itself to be a non-anthropomorphic, brown little monkey with a white chest, blue eyes, wearing a red small vest, and a long, thin brown tail, hanging upside down from vines from the ceiling.

"...A monkey?" The blue hedgehog blinked in disbelief, his heart still pounding from the unexpected scare he received. Mnyambo, hearing the scream, turned around to see what happened and sighed in exasperation, while the little monkey, recovering faster, screeched and seemed to be amused, because it looked like it was laughing at Sonic for being scared.

"Hey! Cut it out, you little chimp!" Sonic grunted angrily, more than a little embarrassed to have been scared by an animal smaller than himself.

"Rajah! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" Mnyambo scolded as he approached the two. The monkey, nambed Rajah, screeched again before scurrying up on the vine and climbed into the inside branches in the ceiling. The elder sighed before apologizing to the hedgehog who stood up. "I deeply apologize for his behavior. Rajah has, shall we say, an odd sense of humor to visitors, and sometimes even to our people."

"More like a terrible sense of humor, if ya' ask me." Sonic grumbled, glaring up at Rajah.

Mnyambo laughed, "I suppose that's another way to put it. Come along, young Sonic." he then continued onward down the hallway. Sonic continued to glare at Rajah who still watched them with amusement and a big grin that got on his nerve.

"Creepy little monkey." Sonic grumbled in annoyance, turning once more and followed the shaman down the hallway.

As though not wanting the blue hedgehog out of his sight, Rajah the Monkey secretly followed him and Mnyambo once more.

* * *

**A/N: Phew! That's the new chapter done and the first chapter of 2020 posted! I was gonna add Sonic and Mnyambo's conversation into this chapter before I decided to make things a bit humorous in the ending.**

**See you in the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6: Uneasy Thoughts

**Author's Note: Just a bit of a warning here; This chapter is rather a bit emotional and dark, so better bring in the tissues and handkerchiefs.**

**I do not own Sonic. The franchise belongs to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 6: Uneasy Thoughts._

Sonic continued to follow Mnyambo through the hallway, and eventually came to a wooden-bamboo cage like platform that was open, decorated with green leaves. The very end of the hallway had a more jungle feeling to it than what the rest of it had. Having emerged in a large room had large palm leaves in pot plants, paintings of scenery with frames made of bamboo.

"Wow..." The blue hedgehog breathed in awe, feeling more relaxed. The main hallway and his unexpected rude scare from the pesky little monkey aside, this place was great. The two then boarded the platform after the leader opened the gate before closing it behind him. "So uh, what now?"

"You will see." The shaman told him patiently, before pulling some sort of bamboo lever downward. The next thing that happened, the cage jolted a bit, catching Sonic by surprise before it began to slowly rise up due to the strong vines and, as he noticed, cables.

"Cool! A wooden elevator!" Sonic exclaimed in excitement.

"Yes, indeed." Mnyambo chuckled at Sonic's excited manner. "Long ago, our ancestors build this as ways to reach the humble home of our village. Of course, others these days in cities use metal to build their elevators. It took us a while to get used to naming ours."

"So what was this originally called?" The blue hedgehog asked, curiously.

"As is named for the main tree of our village we are in now, this device was known as the Tree to Heavens." The leader answered, which made Sonic whistle.

"That's a great name." Said Sonic, impressed. As the two were being lifted to what the blue hero thought was Mnyambo's home, they were unaware that Rajah had followed them and had began making his way up by climbing up the vines. The little monkey's screechs were heard, causing Sonic and Mnyambo to glance down over the bamboo railing and saw him.

"Agh. Not him." Sonic grumbled in annoyance.

"Rajah always becomes more lively than ever whenever there are new people coming to our village." Mnyambo shook his head, in exasperation.

'_I wish he'd gone and annoyed Eggman instead. Then again, that little guy woulda been caught or toast. He annoys me, but even the monkey doesn't deserve that._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself.

It was a bit slow going, but then again all elevators are. Eventually they made it and Sonic had to shield his eyes for a moment due to the sunlight shining through the opened balcony of the tree house. Once his vision readjusted, the teenager took in the sights before him as he followed Mnyambo out of the Wooden Elevator and into the home of the leader. It was bigger than he thought, and way more fancy than any regular tree houses. There were windows on the left and right, and the balcony really did overlook not just the village, but many parts of the jungle which Sonic hasn't seen yet on way to the Gaia Temple.

Everything was made of african-like material, from carpet to curtains, to covers of soft, cushiony pillows on the floor placed onto mats, chairs that were made of thin tree barks cleaned up and bamboo, the tables were made of fine, smooth surface wood, bowls of fruit all set up, palm leaves decorated against the corners, wild flowers that fitted the theme, and Sonic caught sight of more pictures in bamboo frames. It had a more homey feeling to it than the hallway did.

"You may sit wherever you wish, young Sonic." Mnyambo said, taking a seat on the large cushion. Sonic sat in front of him, with the table between them with another man approaching the two that the blue hedgehog hasn't seen before. He seemed to be one of the leader's assistant's as he carried a plate of cut up fruit and two small bowls filled with water.

"Wise Elder Mnyambo." The Assistant bowed in respect, placing the plate and water on the table. Sonic couldn't help but stare with hunger at the pieces of fruit which included bananas, Kiwis, and other fruit native to Mazuri.

"Thank you." Mnyambo nodded, and as his assistant left to leave him and Sonic alone, the leader then kindly gestured to the hedgehog. "Please, help yourself, young one. You will need to keep your strength up."

Sonic's stomach growled in response, and he chuckled a bit sheepishly. "Well, I am pretty hungry. Haven't eaten anything since this morning and that fight with Eggman worked up an appetite."

He then scarfed down on the fruit hungrily, but as Sonic looked up with food in his mouth, pausing, he noticed the human tribe leader and shaman watching him curiously. The blue hedgehog swallowed and chuckled nervously and sheepishly again, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry."

"It's perfectly alright." Mnyambo chuckled, taking a sip from his bowl of water. "You are strong, fast and very brave, young Sonic. Not many would brave the dangers of the path to the Great Vine Tree and the Temple of Gaia."

"I don't know about being strong. It's my speed that makes up for it. The powerful part goes to my friend Knuckles." Sonic said modestly, taking a sip from his water, which was surprisingly not only very refreashing but delicious too. He then jumped in fright as Rajah then leaped from out of nowhere and onto the table, causing him to nearly drop his water.

He then angrily told the monkey, "Will you knock it off!? Go away!"

"Rajah, that is enough." Mnyambo chastised. The monkey, screeching once more, leaped away and ran off to the balcony before using one of the vines to climb back down to the village outside. The human leader sighed, and apologetically said to Sonic. "He seems to either take quite a liking of you or perhaps doesn't like you at all, young one."

"No offense, but I'm not sure about him either." Sonic groaned, glaring in the direction where the monkey left.

Mnyambo laughed. "Now then, where were we?"

The blue hedgehog turned back to the man and, calming down while attempting to forget about the annoying little monkey, replied. "I mentioned Knuckles."

The shaman nodded knowingly. "Ah, yes. Knuckles the Echidna, a brave guardian of the Master Emerald. One whom was tricked by that mad scientist into believing you were the enemy."

"Yeah, Eggman really is a trickster." Sonic replied, remembering that day.

"Yet it was your courage and determination that made the young echidna see the truth and now you two have formed a deep trust."

"Well, I really like the guy. Even though he...uhhh...well, put it this way, Knux is kinda too gullible sometimes."

Mnyambo chuckled. "True. But you must remember, my dear boy. Your friend has spent years alone guarding the Master Emerald as a promise to his kind, being the last of his species by unfortunate circumstances."

Sonic gazed at his cup thoughtfully. "Good point."

"And it was you who have shown him the light of truth, and the meaning of companionship, friendship and knowing that he has friends like you and others, that he is no longer alone." The shaman continued. "Same with your young fox friend, Miles Prower. Despite his appearance, you have shown him kindness and potential. The young boy really looks up to you."

"I like helping out others." The blue hedgehog shrugged, a little embarrassed by the compliment. "Plus, Tails is a great kid. When I first met him, I thought how he could fly was really cool and I saw nothing wrong with his two tails. Always thought he was cute."

"He really sees you as his inspiration, Sonic. You took him in under your wing, cared for him, having him grow into who he is today. You and he view each other as brothers, and that in and on itself is a powerful bond between you two." Mnyambo said.

"Y-yeah. He's like a little brother to me." Sonic muttered, blushing a little. "Actually, he is my little brother. I love him a whole lot."

"You have a gift in inspiring others with your heart. When others are in sadness, or in grave danger, you rush in to save them without hesitation. You have braved many dangers and challenges in order to save many, and protect the world from the darkness of Dr. Eggman." Mnyambo continued.

That statement of protecting the world made Sonic shift uncomfortably, lowering his head in shame and guilt. "...Except this time I made things worse. Horribly worse."

Mnyambo gazed at him with a concerned frown. "I have seen in my power that you attempted to stop him in the sea of stars with your power of the Chaos Emeralds, and yet it was faded the moment I saw you captured and lose your strength."

Sonic's stomach twisted in even more guilt. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Mnyambo. He-he tricked me. I mean, I knew something was up when he pretended to give up, that he'd turn over a new leaf, and asking me to go easy on him, but I flew right into his trap. It's his fault that the world's like this, but..."

The hedgehog hung his head in regret. "I messed up big time. I was caught, he used the Chaos Emeralds to use that stupid machine to break the world apart, waking up Dark Gaia...I might as well be the cause of how Sun..."

He paused, his heart freezing up at the mention of his rival. Sonic mentally gulped, suddenly not sure if mentioning Sun's condition at night to Mnyambo would be a good idea. So instead, he continued on, not used to lying and felt awful about it.

"How Sun somehow got brought there through Chaos Control or something, losing his memories and being stuck with me...And then I ended up crashing on top of Chip and causing him to lose his memories too, and now I know that your abilities ended up in a mess is because of me!" He nearly screamed out, but forced himself not to run away, doing his best to hold in his emotions and guilt, as well as his fears of Sun's Werehog form. "I don't know why you're saying that I helped in getting it back when I'm the one who messed it up in the first place."

"You fear to mention Sun the Hedgehog's curse, I see." Mnyambo said lowly.

Sonic gasped, shocked and nearly dropping his bowl in horror, before remembering that the man before him said something about seeing the future trials earlier.

_Mnyambo then continued, "However, your meeting with young Sonic has allowed me to foresee your challenges up ahead."_

Now scared that being here isn't such a good idea anymore, Sonic began to sweat nervously. If stories were proven right, tribes feared curses and words alone trying to reassure them that those who are cursed by something are not evil or monsters never convinced them, going by their own beliefs and either killing the cursed or just simply kicking them out with warnings. It was bad enough that Sonic himself was a target of Sun's Werehog's thirst for his blood like a vampire, and memories of his nightmares resurfacing.

But if Mnyambo knew about this, it was only a matter of time before the whole village knew, and then...then Sonic and his friends would be having no end of trouble in getting the Chaos Emerald back once the world has been restored. Especially if Sun was seen in his Werehog form. They were lucky to have not have that trouble when they and Shadow rescued Professor Pickle yesterday.

"I-I-I..." Sonic began, nervously and in even more guilt.

"Calm yourself, young Sonic." Mnyambo told him softly, and wisely. "I know what you are thinking. My people know of your challenges, as I have told them of your trials. They also know of Sun's curse, but do not fear, young one. Yes, they were afraid at first when I informed them, and some have assisted to keep them out, and others, well...perhaps doing what you feared would happen."

Sonic gulped nervously. "You're gonna have us imprisoned, aren't you? O-or burn us to stake. Or some other way to kill us, right? To keep everybody here safe."

"Sonic, there is nothing for you to worry about." The shaman said. "When I told them that your actions are to save us all, regardless of Sun's curse, and that it is Dr. Eggman who is the true enemy and threat to our village and world, that you, Sun and Chip would come to save us all, to restore the planet, that Sun's curse is not a threat among our people, but rather to himself and you are attempting to find a cure for him, they all feared the evil madman more. I told them to pretend to act ignorant in order to give you and your friends time."

Even though he felt some relief, Sonic still felt guilty. "It's all my fault. Your people got scared of Sun because of me. I made a total mess of everything."

"You are not to blame for what has happened, my boy." Mnyambo reassured. "Peace, young Sonic. Doubt will only make you be more afraid."

'_Easier said than done._' The blue hedgehog thought.

"You are afraid of Sun's curse, the beast within him wishing for your flesh and blood." Mnyambo told him. "My powers could not go that far, but I can feel negativity within your heart. It is linked to Sun's body and heart."

"Huh?" Sonic blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Tell me, child. What did you feel when the world was split apart?"

The blue hedgehog thought about it, before sighing. "I was horrified, angry, and guilty, unable to believe it. Couldn't believe Eggman would do such an awful thing, using me as bait and the Chaos Emeralds. Even worse, I couldn't do a thing about it. Then Sun...he just appeared out of nowhere, all hairy and-and I never felt so scared in my life."

Sonic gulped, hoping that revealing this to Mnyambo wouldn't push his luck, before continuing. "And when Eggman threw us out, Sun, he...he almost ate me. I thought for sure he was gonna bite my head off. If it wasn't for that weird green light to stop him and let me go, I wouldn't be around right now."

He then told Mnyambo about what happened after crash landing, how he met the amnesiac Chip, how Sonic came to realize that his crash landing caused the pixie to lose his memories and vowing to help him get them back, how he fought and defeated Sun before the sunrise turned him into a hedgehog, and Chip's suggestion that he'd go with since Sun's memories were lost as well, and that Sonic had given him the dark-blue hedgehog's and Chip's current names. He even admitted extremely nervously how Sun in his Werehog form almost eaten his arm off and then tried to eat him again when they rescued Professor Pickle, that Sonic and Shadow came up with theories with Sun's past.

"...But, now I'm not so sure. Think that even Sun is beginning to think that his condition is getting worse." Sonic finished, remembering how concerned his rival looked on their way back here. "I'm not even sure if he is with Eggman now or not, to be honest. But you probably already knew that, didn't you?"

"Sun was never with Dr. Eggman, Sonic. Everything he told you was the truth." Mnyambo told him, and when Sonic looked up at him, he continued. "Yet should he learn of the truth of Sun, it will lead to great danger to him as well as you."

"...Sun's not gonna grow into a giant monster, is he?" Sonic asked, worriedly. "I had a nightmare of him being more dangerous and gigantic. He-he even ate Eggman...! Then he went and gobbled me whole before I woke up."

"The more you fear him, the more the beast within Sun the Hedgehog will take over and become a fersome creature that could increase the darkness of Dark Gaia. For you see, my dear boy, the darkness seeped into your heart."

Sonic gasped in horror when he heard this. "WHAT!?"

"You may have not known, but from my understanding, small particles of Dark Gaia has entered you when Dr. Eggman's machine absorbed the power of the Chaos Emeralds, creating a powerful invisible chain linked to Sun's body. His body and the beast within him share your anger, sorrow and guilt. However, had Sun not been there, the curse would have been placed upon you instead." Mnaymbo explained grimly.

"Say what!?" Sonic exclaimed, even more horrified. "Are you saying that if Sun hadn't been there at all, I'd be the one turning all hairy at night!? That I'd be all blood thirsty and hungry like a carnivore!? No way!"

"Now, now, settle down." Mnyambo replied calmly. "True if Sun the Hedgehog had not been there, you would turn into a beast at night. However, your heart would not be effected as you never would have doubted yourself. The beast with not even exist. Only the power. But Sun, his heart is facing an inner battle of himself as well as the beast that is continuing to grow. There is a link connecting your anger, sorrow and guilt to Sun, which is bringing out your fears."

He then sighed and continued, "You are struggling to hold them back, because even the smallest parts of darkness is effecting you, yet not enough to destroy you. But the beast may will if you are not careful. It may have been easy for you before, but now it is not the case. The more you distrust your companion, the more Sun will lose his own heart and the beast inside him will grow."

"Uuuuhhhh...Okay, now I'm really scared." The blue hedgehog muttered, nervously. Not only that, the renewed guilt of what he said to Sun formed. Not to mention that his own fears against his rival's Werehog form was only feeding the growing monster within him.

"More than that, he may be afraid as well. For you see, Sonic, Sun had a connecting nightmare to yours. I do not know what it is, but your wish to cure him has began to shed some light onto him. You must remember, without his memories, he is angry, afraid and alone in this world. The only things he has now, is you and your new friend Chip, who is in a similar position." Mnyambo continued.

"Really? Sun's...been scared too?" Sonic muttered, gazing low in regret. "I...I had no idea. Guess I never thought about it. I've been so busy trying to help him and Chip with their memories, terrified of what Sun's Werehog form would do to me and everybody, fixing up the world, restoring the Chaos Emeralds and stopping Eggman...I've been acting like a jerk. Not that Sun hasn't been acting like one since he's got an attitude problem, but still..."

Mnyambo nodded. "It is understandable, young one. Our emotions and memories are not like storing a library of books that stay in one place. They flow everywhere within our minds and hearts, and only we living lifeforms can have the power on what happens to them, even if they can be misplaced. Like a river flow that washes away small rocks."

The blue hedgehog couldn't help but laugh in agreement. "Yeah, that's true."

"While on the subject, your friend Chip also shares a powerful connection with your heart, yet it is of a different manner."

"How's Chip involved?" Sonic asked, curiously.

"His necklace is a key to his powers, ones that not even he knows of. Chip holds a strong power that may be the opposite to the ancient past of our world. As such, you notice how the Gaia Temple reacted. It is because of his power that allowed you to place the Chaos Emeralds onto the pillar and it's power reawakened." Mnyambo explained.

Sonic blinked in surprise. "So...Chip's connected to the Temples? That explains how that pillar came up when we first went in there. But where did he come from?"

Mnyambo shook his head, "I do not know. However, I also believe you are not the cause for his loss of memories. Your inner cries for help has awakened his power to save you, young Sonic. But you most certainly did not land on him. Only you, he and Sun will be able to unlock the secrets of his past. Your concern for his well-being as well as his awakening is what restored most of my power; the light within your heart sparked the flares of Chip as well as my ability."

"The light within...my heart?" Sonic repeated, astonished. "Is it because me, Knuckles and Shadow can use the Chaos Emeralds to turn Super?"

"No, Sonic. You were born with great abilities beyond imagination. Remember to always think of others as you have always done, child. As long as you do, your light will spread to others close to you and in turn will spread to others they shall meet one day. But also remember; we cannot have darkness without the light, or light without the darkness. Both are the two halves of day and night." Mnyambo told him wisely.

"Whoa...I thought my speed was the only cool unsual thing about me. Then again, I like helping out others. Always there to help out a friend." Sonic said, amazed and somewhat feeling better.

He then thought about the trials Mnyambo mentioned and hesitantly asked. "Um, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, child." The shaman replied.

"Will the world...will the world be doomed if I fail to stop Eggman? Is there a future that I lost? If there is, how can I stop it from happening?" Sonic questioned. He had a feeling he didn't want to know, but he had to hear the answer and see if there will be a time that he'll lose and if he can figure out how to stop that from happening.

Mnyambo stared at him with a frown and sighed. "I am sorry, Sonic. I'm afraid I can only see the trials relating to what is happening to our world. One that you and your friends prevail."

"Oh." The blue hedgehog mumbled, gazing low in worry and disappointment. "It's just...in the nightmare I had about Sun being a giant monster, I...I saw the world in total ruins, everybody I knew...all my friends...gone."

Sonic suddenly found himself struggling to hold back his emotions, the haunting memories of seeing the graves of his friends and himself within the nightmare resurfacing. He tried not to cry, but his tears leaked and slid free. "Even worse...I was among the dead but somehow came back or something...! I couldn't do a thing to save them...! On top of that, even Sun's grave was there, before Eggman attacked and then Sun's giant self came...!"

"Sonic..." The shaman whispered, admittedly shocked by the blue hedgehog's reaction. He had expected this would happen, but it was more of a surprise than he thought it was. Mnyambo then calmly stood up and approached the distressed blue hedgehog, kneeling down beside him before gently placing a hand to Sonic's shoulder. Feeling the surprisingly gentle, comforting and warm touch, Sonic hesitantly opened his eyes and slowly looked up and was surprised and confused that the shaman was kneeling next to him.

"It is alright, young one." Mnyambo whispered fatherly. He then took out a couple of hankerchiefs and gave it to Sonic. "Here, child. Dry your tears."

Seeing this and somewhat calming down a little, Sonic nodded and took one of the hankies before wiping away his tears with one, and then blowing his nose with another. Taking a breather and calming down even more, the blue hedgehog shrugged, embarrassed and humiliated for someone seeing him at his weakest.

"Thanks. Sorry about that." The blue hedgehog said, sheepishly, rubbing his head. "I'm not used to being seen like this, being a hero and all. I can't afford to cry like a big baby. Not only that, it's embarrassing."

The shaman thought carefully. "You're afraid that your friends will neglect you if they see you unleashing your inner emotions. You fear of them seeing you when you are needed to let it all out."

"What kind of grown up would cry like I did? I can't let my friends see me like this. I don't want them to worry." The blue hedgehog admitted as Mnyambo took a seat next to him. "I have to be strong for them. For everybody. If I can't, how can anyone stop Eggman or save the world?"

"Your love for your friends have strengthed your heart. You have carried the burden of being this world's guardian for a very long time. The darkness has began to break the inner barrier you have developed on your own, giving life to your greatest fears of losing all that you cherish." The shaman explained.

"...Then, what do I do?" Sonic asked, very uneasy and realizing that it makes perfect sense. Since the world broke apart, he hasn't been himself even though he seemed fine. But lately his worries began to increase and that being terrified was rendering him to that of a small, scared child.

"Always believe in your friends, just as they believe in you. Continue to do what you know is right, young Sonic. You are very brave to go on adventures and dangerous quests on your own, but there will be times when you will need your friends to help you. True friends always worry for each other, and while you may not be aware, your friends worry about you even when they know that you will be alright." Mnyambo wisely advised.

"You think so?"

"I know so, young one."

Sonic thought about it and while he'd known that his friends always knew he would be okay most of the time, he didn't even realize that they would worry about him if anything happened. Now he felt a bit stupid.

"You're right. I forgot about that." He muttered. "We wouldn't be a team if we didn't worry about each other or wanting to help each other out and others in trouble. I was scared that they were gone when the world broke."

"Many have survived, Sonic. Now, it is up to you and your friends to restore our world, cure Sun from his curse, restore Chip's memories, and stop Dr. Eggman from forming his empire." Mnyambo told him.

"Leave it to me!" Sonic promised with a thumbs up, his confidence and determination returning in an instant. "That Egghead thought he can get rid of me that easily. No way I'm gonna back down from him!"

The shaman chuckled admirably. "Your journey will be quite dangerous, Sonic."

"That's okay. I'm used to this kind of stuff." The blue hedgehog reassured, feeling a bit better. While he was still scared of Sun's Werehog form, he now knew why and what to expect. First thing he had to was apologize to his rival, and warn him of the dangers the curse was doing if they were not careful. Then it was back to Spagonia to learn where the other Gaia Temples are to restore the rest of the Chaos Emeralds as well as the world, and figure out how to restore Chip's memories and learn more about his past.

Still, even though Mnyambo did say that it wasn't his fault, and Sonic wanted to believe him, that the whole mess was really Eggman's fault...the blue hedgehog just couldn't find it in his heart to forgive himself.

* * *

Sun couldn't believe what he was seeing. As the dark-blue hedgehog, Tails, and Chip were seated in a comfy large tent for visitors and were feasted of delicious kinds of fruit, the little pixie sure had a great big appetite. That kid just couldn't stop eating. Even Tails was surprised by the enormous appetite, though not as shocked as Sun was.

"Either he's a bottomless pit, or his stomach is ten times bigger than his body. That squirt eats a lot." Sun murmured, staring at how Chip was eating his food so much, bewildered.

Tails couldn't help but laugh. "Kind of reminds me of how Sonic would eat, only he has a normal stomach like the rest of us. Plus he really loves Chili Dogs."

The dark-blue hedgehog raised an eyebrow at the two-tailed fox. "Don't tell me; he eats fast, right?"

"Yep. Everything about Sonic is fast, and that's one of the cool things about him." Tails replied.

'_This kid really adores him. Then again, he and the blue idiot call each other brothers._' Sun thought, mentally scoffing. Thinking that, however, he couldn't help but wonder what happened to the real families of both Sonic and Tails and how these two met and became such close friends. Not only that...did he have siblings? Or was he an only child? So many questions about his past, yet so little answers.

Speaking of which, what did that Mnyambo guy want to talk to Sonic for? Was it because he was a huge fan of the blue hedgehog? Or something more important? Even though he claimed to be a foreseer or whatever he was that can see the past and the future, Sun didn't believe any of that nonsense. It was a load of dirt, as far as he's concerned. The shaman probably likes to be mystical or something.

"Mmmm! All this fruit is so sweet and refreshing!" Chip moaned happily, with juices dribbling all over his body as he ate.

"Heh. Careful, buddy. You're gonna get your fur all sticky with all that fruit juice." A familiar, cocky voice teased out of nowhere.

Blinking in surprise, Chip, Tails and Sun all looked to see Sonic standing there halfway through the doorway which was a cloth door that the blue hedgehog held over his head with a smirk. Needless to say, Sun hadn't been expecting him to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

"AH! Where'd you come from?" The dark-blue hedgehog jumped slightly, startled by Sonic's silent entrance.

"Alakazam." Sonic teased, snickering as he stepped fully inside to greet his friends.

"So, what did you and Mnyambo talk about, Sonic?" Tails asked, curiously.

The blue hedgehog shrugged. "Ah, ya' know. I think he wanted to get know me better, and I learned a few usual tips that'll help us out. Turns out, Chip's somehow connected with the Gaia Temples."

That got the trio's interests, especially since Chip heard this and looked up, pausing in his eating.

"Me?" The little pixie asked, or what's what it sounded like. It was hard to tell with his mouth full. Realizing this, he swallowed and said. "I thought Mr. Mnyambo didn't know where I came from."

"He didn't, but it turns out that necklace of yours acts like a key to bring up those pillar things for the Chaos Emeralds to be put in. Not sure what it is, but it has some kind of amazing power to do that. He also said that you might be like a total opposite of that giant dude Eggman woke up, but he's not sure how or why yet, though." Sonic explained, his arms folded to his chest.

"Really? I'm an opposite to that Dark Gaia guy?" Chip asked, amazed. He then muttered thoughtfully, "Hmmm...it's weird, but that somehow sounds kinda familiar."

"Hey, that means your memory's starting to come back." Sonic said excitedly and in relief. Tails smiled in relief as well.

Chip, realizing that Sonic was right, smiled in relief and exclaimed excitedly. "Yeah! Hooray!"

"_That_ pipsqueak, the opposite of Dark Gaia?" Sun asked, raising an eyebrow. "That, I'm not so sure. The Gaia Temple and the necklace parts, though, I think I can believe it. 'Cause if the necklace is what made that pillar rise up in the first place, it's no wonder."

"What else did Mnyambo say, Sonic?" Tails asked eagerly.

Sonic shrugged, a bit uncomfortably. "I'll explain on our way back to Spagonia. It's...not something to talk about right now. Don't wanna make everybody around here freaked out."

"How come?" The young fox asked, confused and quickly growing concerned. Did something happen before they got here? With Mnyambo being the shaman of the village, he couldn't help but think that there was something that was making everybody nervous and it wasn't a good idea to talk about it while they were around.

"Leeeet's just say, if we talk about it here, we're in big trouble." The blue hedgehog said nervously, scratching the top of his head as his smile faded to a bit a scared and worried frown. "Sure, Mnyambo knew about this and he already told everybody before Eggman showed up and they seem to be kinda cool about it, but I don't wanna take my chances, just in case."

"...It's something to do with my you-know-what, is it?" Sun asked, surprisingly in a whisper so that only Sonic, Tails and Chip could hear. While he still didn't believe in Mnyambo's abilities, given Sonic's reaction to this and not wanting to talk about it in public, he found that he wouldn't want to risk it either. He knew how tribes worked, so it wasn't a good idea to talk about the fact that he's a Werehog at night.

Sonic nodded, confirming the suspicions. He then told his rival, "Actually, Sun, I wanna talk to you for a few minutes in private before we go. If that's okay."

The dark-blue hedgehog raised an eyebrow in confusion and skepticism, wondering what his rival needed to talk about. Alone no less. Deciding that he had nothing else to do, he shrugged nonchalantly and stood up, following Sonic out, with the blue hedgehog telling Tails and Chip that they'll be back, and while the latter two gave them the okay, they couldn't help but share a confused and slightly worried glances.

* * *

Sonic and Sun calmly left the village for a bit a walk after informing Mnyambo they were going to be out for a little while, before the blue hedgehog used his speed to take himself and his rival as far out as possible to make sure no one would find them or listen to their conversation. He trusted Mnyambo's words, but Sonic didn't want to risk it. He stopped halfway to the Great Vine Tree before stopping in a small clearing in the middle of the jungle, to which Sun hasn't even noticed before.

Once he made sure that they were alone, Sonic sighed in relief.

"Okay, what's going on? What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Sun questioned, crossing his arms suspiciously.

"Well, I...uh..." The blue hedgehog began, awkwardly, the guilt he felt right near it's peak as he scratched the back of his head, slightly messing up his quills. "Sun, I...I wanted to..."

"Wanted to what?" The dark-blue hedgehog asked, impatiently.

"I wanted to..." Sonic sighed, forcing himself to find the courage to say what he wanted to say. "I wanna apologize."

That, Sun hasn't been expecting either. Sonic wanted to apologize to him? The dark-blue hedgehog let out a soft gasp of shock and lower his arms slowy.

"What I said last night at Eggman's base, that I thought you were lying to me and that you were with Eggman...It...it was stupid." Sonic began, struggling to hold his gaze at the other hedgehog in front of him. "Mnyambo told me...that you were never with him. You're right; you were telling the truth all along."

"And you wanted to apologize for accusing me like that, huh?" Sun questioned, feeling some sort of relief that he didn't make some sort of bargain with Eggman.

"More than that." Sonic shook his head. "Sun, you're in more danger than we thought. Dark Gaia did more than just turn you all hairy at night. There's a monster right inside you, and it's linked to our hearts."

"Wait, what?" The dark-blue hedgehog asked, dumbfounded. Which also made his own fears of what he thought earlier begin to rise up. That roar he somehow heard earlier this morning, one that told him to ignore the terrifying thought of his nightmares and...could he be right?

"Turns out I got some of that darkness in me, too." Sonic explained, before telling Sun everything he heard from Mnyambo, about how the Werehog inside him was growing and how Sonic's fears were feeding it, that his anger, sorrow and guilt somehow brought it to life within Sun. The blue hedgehog even forced himself to admit what he'd seen, that if Sun hadn't been there, Sonic would be the one to end up turning into a Werehog at night, that his fears that he managed to hold back were surfacing.

The blue hedgehog then paused after he finished, then asked hesitantly. "...Were you...scared?"

Sun remained silent as he absorbed everything he heard from Sonic into his mind, making his own worries about the nightmare grow and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was a warning; the monster holding him; that had to be Dark Gaia. As to why he saw his Werehog self holding Sonic captive before devouring him whole, it was the beast within him coming to life.

"...I don't know." The dark-blue hedgehog admitted, uneasily. "I could only remember anger and hunger. Those feelings were all I felt when we first met. It wasn't until I returned to normal that I felt other feelings. Maybe...Maybe I was scared."

"I'm so sorry, Sun." Sonic deeply apologized, guilt reaching it's peak as he struggled not to cry, but ultimately decided to tell Sun the truth of what he felt. "Truth is, I...I'm scared. I'm really scared of you as Werehog, Sun...! I didn't think...I was too busy trying to help you go back to normal and find your and Chip's memories...I've been a jerk. I mean, no offence, but you were a jerk, too, but that's no excuse. I didn't think that you were scared, too."

By then, Sonic was rendered into tears and he squeezed his eyes shut to stop himself from bursting out. Unfortunately, this was a losing battle. "It's all my fault...! It should've been me! Why? Why couldn't I be the one to turn into a Werehog instead you? If I was, you wouldn't suffer like this!"

While Sun had to resist the urge to roll his eyes in being called a jerk, and that seeing Sonic like this was kind of pathetic, he was shocked that his rival had just openly admitted in being terrified of him as a Werehog, which he knew from the beginning. He did agree that being a Werehog wasn't fair, but then he thought back how he was...horrified in the nightmare of his Werehog self eating Sonic. He still didn't get the blue hedgehog, but he had to admit that Sonic isn't...stupid at all. He's just trying to look out for the world, because he loved it a whole lot, and his friends too.

To think that Sonic didn't blame himself the day they met, now he was blaming himself for what happened.

_"Well, I thought you knew and that you're responsible for this mess!" The dark-blue hedgehog replied angrily._

_"ME!? It's Eggman who made this mess in the first place! If you really want to eat someone, then go after him instead and be my guest! That creep is on everybody's hatred list anyway." Sonic argued. _

_"But I must've gotten involved with you somehow!" The dark-blue hedgehog argued back._

_"Last I checked, I went to his base by myself! You just appeared out of nowhere." Sonic pointed out._

'_Sonic's wrong. It's not his fault._' Sun thought to himself. He'd seen how cruel and evil the mad scientist was. That fat guy was willing to throw away lives just to get what he wants. Not only that...Sonic is worried about him. He's worried that...that Sun would lose himself to the monster inside him.

_"Sun? Hey, Sun!"_

_Blinking out of his troubled thoughts, Sun glanced up to see Sonic stare him, with a mixture of fear in his eyes, but what caught the Werehog slightly off-guard was...the look of concern on the blue hedgehog's face and within his eyes as well._

_"You okay? What's wrong?" Sonic asked, curiously._

_"__**I'm fine. Why do you care?**__" Sun quickly looked away in irritation, regaining his composure._

Sun felt guilt rise, except this time it was for a different, more meaningful reason. He blamed Sonic for something that he'd been trying to prevent, and that, as much as he wanted to keep his composure, was unfair. He terrified the hedgehog, the hero of the world, and he was Sun, with no memories, blaming someone who tried to save Mobius and stop Eggman from causing all of this. He just made a mistake at the wrong place at the wrong time. While Sun still had no idea how he got that base, he realized that it was the monster inside him that has been in control before the sunrise returned him to normal.

He suddenly felt grateful for his given name.

_"Actually, I was gonna call you Sun." Sonic said._

_"Sun?" The dark-blue hedgehog asked._

_"Yeah. I figured since the sunlight made you normal, that oughta suit you, right?" The blue hedgehog explained._

"It...it suits me." Sun muttered.

"H-huh?" Sonic blinked, gazing up with tears threatening to spill.

"My name. The one you gave me." The dark-blue hedgehog admitted. He shook his head and said. "Honestly...I had a nightmare last night. I saw myself like this and...my other stupid form as a thing of it's own, gigantic and...another attemping to devour me. Then I saw you...eaten alive by my Werehog form. I...I hate to admit it but...I didn't like it. I was horrified to see you die like that."

Sonic's eyes widened in disbelief. This was what Mnyambo was talking about; the nightmare similar to his own. Were their dreams connected because of both Sun's Werehog form and his own death?

"The part of me being eaten by your Werehog self was in my nightmare too!" He exclaimed softly. "Except...the world was destroyed...and the other guy inside you even ate Eggman and then chased me. When I was about to be swallowed up, that's when I woke up."

He then gazed at the ground once more, closing his eyes and unconsciously letting loose a couple of tears that landed on the ground in droplets. "I'm so deeply sorry, Sun."

"You can stop apologizing." Sun told him, stepping forward and placing a hand onto his fellow hedgehog's shoulder, causing Sonic to look up with a tear-soaked face, surprised to see the dark-blue hedgehog looking...very sympathetic for the first time. "You were right. It was that stupid Eggman's fault. I blamed you for something that you...you tried to prevent. Sorry about that."

Sonic was stunned to hear this, from Sun the Hedgehog of all people. No snarky remarks, or mocks for crying, or even being brutually told to get over it and accept it. Sonic had expected his rival to openly yell at him, continuously blame him for everything that's happened. But...this was a first time his rival admitted this, to actually agree with him. Then again, he hadn't liked him at first, but now that he heard everything from Mnyambo, he had misplaced his trust into someone who needed support. Not to mention that he didn't want Sun to die, to be taken over by the monster inside him.

Smiling a little in sadness, Sonic wiped his face to dry off his tears and replied. "Guess it was just real rotten luck, huh?"

"More like rotten EGG luck." Sun remarked, which made Sonic laugh at the sarcastic joke, and the dark-blue hedgehog couldn't help but snort in laughter as well.

"I'm starting to really like your jokes." The blue hedgehog chuckled. "Especially when it comes to Eggman."

"Call me a comedian." His rival rolled his eyes with a smirk. That set off another fit of laughter, this time both of them sharing it. They went on for a little while until both hedgehogs calmed down, yet they felt much better than they felt before.

"Don't worry. We'll cure you, and we're gonna beat that thing inside you, even if it means we take on Dark Gaia himself." Sonic promised with determination, and reassurance.

"Thanks." Sun replied, this time believing him.

"So, whaddya say? We start over and pretend our arguments never happened?"

"Sounds a bit corny, especially since I don't remember my real name, but...Why not?"

Sonic grinned, and held out his hand, re-introducing himself. "I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

Sun smiled and shook hands with the blue hedgehog. "Call me Sun."

All of the sudden, Sun felt a painful jolt like something inside him was hitting him in the chest, somewhere deep close to where his heart was. He gasped in pain which caused him to let go of Sonic's hand and grunted in pain, leaning forward and began to breathe with difficulty.

"Sun!? Sun, what's wrong!?" Sonic cried out, alarmed to see this happen.

"M-My chest...!" Sun wheezed, struggling to dull the pain. Then he heard it; the roar inside him. It was forcefully yelling at him somehow, telling him something truly horrifying. "S-Sonic! I-I think it's-!"

"SUN!" Sonic screamed worriedly, reaching over and gently placed a hand onto the other hedgehog that was in serious pain. It scared him, making him feel helpless. "Sun, hang in there!"

"I-It's...the Werehog...! I think it's...already...!" Sun grunted, his breathing quicken. He almost fell forward and limp, beginning to lose consciousness. But Sonic held him in his arms, catching him before he could.

"Don't quit! Just hold on!" The blue hedgehog pleaded and encouraged. He knew what Sun was trying to tell him. The monster that Mnyambo warned him about, it had already developed a consciousness of it's own, and now it was attempting to take over the helpless dark-blue hedgehog's body, just as Sonic attempted to trust him now, and apologized for what happened.

'_What'm I gonna do? I can't leave Sun like this!_' Sonic desperately thought as he tried hard not to panic. He then remembered that the beast inside his rival feasted on the blue hedgehog's fear, because they were linked by the power of Dark Gaia. He fought mentally with himself not to give into it, desperately trying to focus on his concern for Sun, and attempting to figure out how to help him.

"Sun, I won't leave you!" Sonic promised, firmly. He then noticed the light in the sky becoming a bit more dim and when he looked up, he gasped in horror as it was already reaching sunset, with the sky all pink and orange. They were too late to leave Mazuri without anyone to notice Sun's Werehog form, especially since the situation he's going through. "Oh no! The sun's going down!"

He looked back and forth between the struggling hedgehog in his arms and the sunlight. After realizing that Sun seemed to be calming down but now developed sweat on his forehead, Sonic knew that they couldn't go back to the village yet. They had to spend the night in the jungle and hope for the best. The dark-blue hedgehog needed rest before their flight back to Spagonia. He just wished he had a communicator on him to let Tails know what was happening, and Sonic didn't want to risk in leaving Sun behind or inform everyone what was happening.

Then there was another problem. What if the tribe became suspicious and then imprison Tails and Chip if Sonic and Sun didn't return on time? A chill ran down his spine and while Sonic was positive that Mnyambo would get his people to calm down and not attack, there was a chance that things could change and...someone might overthrow him.

'_Oh man! I wish I could use Chaos Control right now._' The blue hedgehog thought, trying to fight down the panic that was increasing. Left with no choice but to hope and place his trust in Mnyambo to make sure both Tails and Chip would be okay, that nothing bad would happen, Sonic carefully scooped up Sun in his arms, and gazed at him worriedly to see how hot he felt, and it didn't help that the jungle's heat was humid.

"It'll be okay, Sun. Hang in there, buddy." Sonic reassured him, before dashing off to find a place to spend the night, somewhere safe from the wildlife. First things first. His new friend needed some water.

* * *

It took no less than a minute to reach the lake he crossed earlier to reach the Giant Vine Tree and stopped just off it's shore. Sonic gently set set Sun against a tree in a leaning position as the latter tried to recover. The next thing he did was pull a fairly large leaf from another tree and scooped up some water, turning it into a make-shift cup before returning to the exhausted Sun.

"Here ya' go. You'll need it." The blue hedgehog knelt next to his friend who moaned, and slowly blinked his eyes open.

"Uh...Thanks." Sun murmured, admittedly surprised by Sonic's generousity, before taking the leaf filled with water and took much needed but slow sips, and soon enough drank all of it. "That's better."

"You okay?" Sonic asked as he took a seat next to the other hedgehog, still worried about him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But, I think the Werehog inside me is starting to try and talk to me." Sun replied, somewhat shaken.

"What did it say?"

"It just roars, but for some reason, I could hear it's thoughts. It might want me to listen to it or something, and I've been trying not to."

"Well, don't listen to it." Sonic told him. "I won't let that thing take over you."

The dark-blue hedgehog gazed at his rival who held a mixture of determination, kindness, support and courage in his emerald green eyes with a reassuring smile as Sonic continued. "I know we haven't gotten along since we met, but we'll pull through."

Sun couldn't help but smile a little, before he and Sonic noticed the light getting dimmer. When the two hedgehogs looked up, they saw that the sun was almost set, much to their dismay and in the dark-blue hedgehog's case, annoyance. At the same time, he hoped that the beast inside him wouldn't cause him trouble again. Soon enough, as the sun had set, Sun himself winced as he felt the familiar sensation washed over him, before the transformation was complete and he was back as a Werehog.

Sonic tried not to flinch as he inched back a little, before telling himself to calm down and said. "Well, guess we'll be camping out for the night. Let's find a place to rest."

But he didn't get a response, and when the blue hedgehog looked at at the Werehog's face, he quickly grew both concerned and scared as Sun, grunting again, was breathing deeply and heavily. As Sonic slowly stood up and wondered if he should step closer or not, his eyes widened when he saw that Sun's eyes, usually black with purple pupils, they were flicking to a crimson red. The hero couldn't help but gasp softly in horror, as memories of his nightmare flashed before his eyes.

'_I-it's that same red eye look from my dream!_' Sonic thought, his heart plummenting to his stomach as he saw how Sun was struggling. Attempting to swallow his fears, he asked a bit shakily. "S-Sun? Are you alright?"

When the Werehog slowly turned to face him, Sonic gasped a bit louder as his fear quickly increased, and he tried not to give in to it. But those eyes...that very same predator look, except it was worse somehow. Was it the beast staring at him, or was it Sun being annoyed with what he said? He didn't know. Even worse, they were alone in the jungle, and Sonic couldn't risk in running back to the village.

'_I'm not scared, I'm not scared, I'm NOT scared!_' Sonic thought to himself, trying to fight down the terror seeped into his heart. He did take a couple steps back, his hands held up in defense as Sun gave a deep growl while standing up.

"Hey, easy there, Sun. It's okay." The blue hedgehog tried to reassure, shivering. "It's gonna be okay...AHHH!" He cried out as Sun unexpectedly grabbed him with both hands and then pulled him towards the Werehog's front, to which the beast was breathing in hollow breaths.

Sonic struggled to free himself, feeling terrible case of deja vu. He glared up at Sun and yelled out, "Sun, stop it! Don't let that thing turn you into a monster!"

"**You can't do anything about this, hedgehog. It's already too late.**" Sun spoke darkly, but with crimson eyes rather than his usual ones, the blue hedgehog noticed. That was when he knew what was happening; the beast was taking over, and it wanted to devour him, and Sun was struggling to fight it mentally.

"Leave him alone! Give back Sun!" Sonic snapped, trying very hard not to be afraid, before crying out and hoping that Sun would hear him. "Sun, I know you're in there! You gotta fight the Werehog within you! Don't let him win!"

There was another flicker in the Werehog's eyes, but Sun began to lean forward and open his sharp jaws. The captured hedgehog felt his fear increase, and what scared him even more now was because the monster within Sun grew stronger, which that only increased that chances of that.

"Sun! Fight it!" Sonic cried out pleadingly, renewing his attempts to free himself, but the grip was too strong. "Don't eat me! Sun, please! I trust you! I'm sorry about what I said last night! I want to help you!"

The Werehog didn't listen, despite that there was a bit of a pause and the eyes flickered in and out like a blinking lightbulb, as though Sun was conflicted, which he was as he struggled to hear Sonic's voice. Mentally, the dark-blue hedgehog was trying to find his way out of the dark place within his own body. Outside, the beast, struggling to keep control, continued to lean forward and preparing to devour the terrified blue hedgehog who tried desperately not to be afraid.

"SUUUUN!" Sonic screamed in horror and plea, as full realization that he was definitely about to be eaten this time hit him. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself as the Werehog's face was now towering over him.

"NOOOOOOOO!" He shouted, unconsciously sheding tears that dropped onto Sun's clawed hands that held him tightly. What Sonic didn't see was that in the process of doing so, Sun stopped just an inch over his rival's head, and his eyes flickered once more, this time the crimson colour was gone almost in an instant, and, regaining control of his body, leaned back slightly and saw, to his horror, what he'd been about to do.

"**S-Sonic?**" Sun muttered in disbelief. He remembered; he'd been trapped within a dark place within his mind, trying desperately to find a way out. He couldn't remember much except for the transformation. It was when he could faintly hear his rival's voice, calling out to him. Then...he felt something wet on his hands, and realized that they were Sonic's tears.

Realizing that he is still alive, Sonic hesitantly opened his eyes and looked up in shock. There he saw, his rival's normal Werehog eyes, and an expression of shock, horror and disbelief on his face.

"Sun?" He asked back, realizing that Sun had pushed back the beast within him, before Sonic was gently placed back onto the ground and let go as the Werehog drew his hands away.

Sun couldn't believe what happened; the beast within him, it had taken control and he'd been utterly helpless to stop it. Just days ago, he wanted to get rid of Sonic. But now...it was the monster forming from his anger while he began to see that the blue hedgehog wasn't what he thought he was. Fear and sheer guilt rising in his chest, the Werehog grunted as he shut his eyes before running off further into the jungle, leaping and hopping onto the rocks, logs and even the hippo(briefly dunking it deep into the water due to his heavy build) across the lake, and into the jungle.

"Sun, wait! Where you going?" Sonic cried out, reaching out for him. He then quickly dashed after him, hopping onto the rocks and such once more including the hippo that began to rise up in confusion, and apologized to it again. "Sorry!"

The blue hedgehog managed to catch up to him, but was surprised that Sun had stretched out his arms and began swinging from branch to branch like a monkey or an ape, and then Sonic noticed a small sign of tears in the Werehog's eyes. The sight and the realization that his rival was horrified and feeling guilty for losing control broke his heart. It made him wish even more that he'd been cursed and not Sun.

But as Sonic was about to call out to him to wait, his ears perked up as he heard something approach from the left. As the blue hedgehog looked, his eyes widened as a towering dark silhouette of what appeared to be a giant gorilla with glowing red eyes began to merge as sky turned to that of an early evening, and it was about to attack the Werehog that was fleeing.

"SUN, LOOK OUT!" Sonic screamed as loud as he could.

Unfortunately, it was too late as Sun, aware that his rival was following him and wishing that he hadn't, turned just as the giant ape-like monster smacked him to the side and into the trees. He yelled a scream and Sonic sped up to try and save him.

"I'm coming, Sun!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, and jumped to try and break Sun's fall...only to end up being pinned to the ground as the Werehog, being bigger than him, landed on top of him and Sonic was stuck halfway underneath the heavy body of his rival. He groaned as he felt a bit bruised, realizing that this hadn't been a very smart idea. "Geez, you're heavy...!"

When Sun didn't reply, Sonic cranked his neck to look behind him and saw that the former was unconscious. To make things worse, the Ape-Monster approached them and was getting closer and closer. The blue hedgehog gasped in horror before he tried to pull himself out from underneath, desperate to try and free himself and fight it while keeping the Werehog safe.

"Wake up, Sun! This is no time to take a nap!" Sonic cried out, once he found that he was trapped underneath the unconscious form of his rival. But it didn't work, and he could only watch in horror as the Ape-Monster reached them and then it reached out it's hand to grab both of them.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he covered the back of his head and braced himself. He cried out as he and Sun were both grasped tightly in the giant hand and picked up before being drawn to the Ape-Monster's face. The blue hedgehog tried to pull himself free, but was trapped between the giant fingers and the Werehog's body. "Let us go!"

As Sonic struggled, he looked up and gasped once again when he saw that the monster was drawing them towards it's mouth, and he couldn't help but groan in both dismay and annoyance. "Oh, come on! Since when did monkeys eat hedgehogs and werehogs?"

Knowing that they were in grave danger, Sonic turned to Sun and shouted, "Hey, snap out of it! If we don't do something, we're bananas!"

When that didn't work, the blue hedgehog tried again and again as he and the werehog were getting dangerously closer to the Ape-Monster's mouth, and even though Sun was finally starting to wake up, Sonic didn't notice as he turned back to the monster and his heart froze up had how close they were. They were done for. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the bitter end.

"Somebody help us!" He found himself screaming.

That snapped Sun awake as he gasped, as though waking up from a dream and just in time saw what was happening. The werehog saw that Sonic was trapped along side him and, seeing that their lives were about to come to an end, refused to let this happen. In a desperate and quick idea, he snarled before biting hard on the hand with his sharp fangs. The Ape-Monster roared in pain, inadvertently flinging the two into the air as they cried out in alarm while Sonic then saw what happened and panicked.

"Whoooooooaaaaaaaa!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed as he was flown through the air. As Sun grabbed hold of a tree branch to save himself, he stretched his other hand out and caught Sonic around the waist before pulling him back towards him. The werehog dropped to the ground and landed safely. The hero of Mobius, seeing that he was okay and having been caught, looked up in surprise as Sun gently put him down.

"Sun!" Sonic gaped in shock, and some sort of relief. When his rival gave him a reassuring glance, the blue hedgehog found himself relaxing and sighed in relief, realizing that the Werehog had just saved him and their lives. "Thanks."

"**No problem, Sonic.**" Sun replied, which made Sonic smile, before the two turned to glare at the Ape-Monster who, with it's hand slightly bleeding of black mist and blood, pounded it's chest as most apes would, glaring angrily at the duo.

"Whaddya say we give monkey-boy a groove in the jungle?" Sonic teased, as he and Sun stood ready to fight, feeling his confidence return almost in an instant.

"**I'm all for telling him that there's no free dinner.**" Sun replied with a smirk.

Sonic smirked back, and then chuckled as he and his rival-turned-friend faced off against the Ape-Monster, ready to fight.

What they were about to find after this battle, however, was something more shocking than they would ever imagine.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for yet another cliffhanger. Had to cut this chapter short since it was getting too long and I have three days of being busy starting tomorrow. But don't worry, I promise that I will return and that the battle will take place in the next chapter.**

**See ya'!**


	7. Chapter 7: The Darkness Deepens

**Author's Note: Not much to say here, so let's continue onward.**

**I do not own Sonic. The franchise belongs to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 7: The Darkness Deepens._

Sonic and Sun waited before the Ape-Monster drew back a fist and made to punch them into paste, but the hedgehog and the werehog easily dodged out of the way. Sonic then went for his spin dash and bashed right into the monster's chest, causing it to hollar of pain and stumble back before attempting to grab him. The blue hedgehog snickered while zipping away, easily escaping before it had the chance. Sun jumped and punched the Ape-Monster right in the face and even scratched it with his claws.

The monster growled before whacking the werehog who cried before grabbing another branch and used them to his advantage. He swing really hard and fast while Sonic, amazed and impressed by this skill, leaped and hopped and ran across the branches himself so fast that the Ape-Monster had trouble trying to even grab them, knocking down trees. Something that the teenager felt terrible about, being one to love nature.

"Yo, King Kong!" Sonic taunted, smirking to get it's attention, as he had an idea to distract the monster and give Sun a chance to attack from behind. "Over here!"

Growling over the taunts, the Ape-Monster reached out to grab him, but the blue hedgehog jumped and landed onto it's arm towards it's face, laughing as he went. He jumped and dodged it's arm, only to cry out in alarm when it swung it's arm he was on to shake him off. Sonic grabbed hold of it's fur to prevent himself from falling, holding on for dear life as it tried to get him off before it reached out once more as it stopped.

"Uh oh!" Sonic gulped, quickly pulling himself up and ran, narrowly missing in bring captured, but it was a lick at his heels. "Whoa! Phew, that was close!"

As he ran to continue upward while recovering from that scare attack, Sonic broke the fourth wall and told the readers, "Piece of advice; don't mess with monkeys, especially giant ones. Some may look cute, but you can't tell what they're thinking."

Sun in the meantime slashed at the Ape-Monster's back, digging his claws into it's fur and skin and causing it to roar in agony before he leaped back. Sonic jumped a few times to keep his balance before hopping onto it's head, smirking.

"Hey, Banana-Breath! Come and get me!" He called out. The monster made to punch him. Sonic jumped high, causing the Ape-Monster to accidentally hit itself on the head. While in the air, Sonic laughed in victory and gave it a raspberry. By the time he landed on another branch, the Ape-Monster growled only for Sun to grasp it's head with both hands despite it being bigger than him.

"**Geez, this monkey has some serious issues.**" The Werehog commented as he grunted while digging his claws into the back of the monster's head hard. To his and Sonic's shock, like twice before, the same black mist, the darkness both of them guessed, appeared from the monster's body and as it vanished from without a trace, the mist became absobed into his left hand, flowing into his chest. He winched at the feeling and grunted, feeling it linger a bit longer this time.

"Sun!" Sonic cried out, jumping off the branch and sped towards his rival who panted a little, placing a hand to his chest. "Sun, are you alright?"

Sun didn't answer at first, but as he slowly reached out a hand, the blue hedgehog's eyes widened, and almost instantly his fear was creeping back up. But Sonic forced himself not to panic, and tried not to be scared as he knew that it would cause the beast inside Sun to flare up again. He was, however, unable to stop himself from closing his eyes and braced himself, shaking a little. Rather than being roughly grabbed or caressed in a horrifying way, the clawed hand simply rested gently on the hedgehog's shoulder.

Feeling the cold but strangely gentle touch, Sonic hesitantly looked and saw that it was just there. He gazed at Sun who returned the glance, and there wasn't a trace of the monster inside him. At least for now.

"**I'm fine. Thanks for the wake up call.**" The Werehog replied.

Realizing what Sun meant and that, at this moment for the time being, he meant no harm, Sonic sighed in relief and smiled, giving his rival a thumbs up and a wink. "You're welcome."

Just then, they heard a squeaky moan and a shriek, causing Sonic and Sun to look in the direction where the Ape-Monster had been defeated, and while they had expected it not to be there, what they _didn't_ expect to see was that in it's place, much to Sonic's shock, was a familiar little monkey with a white chest, blue eyes, wearing a red small vest, and a long, thin brown tail.

"No way...Rajah!?" Sonic exclaimed in disbelief. The last he'd seen that annoying monkey was when it left Mnyambo's house in the Tree to Heavens and he'd assumed that it stayed somewhere in the village. Could Dark Gaia's darkness effect those so badly that it'd turn people and normal animals...or anyone in fact...into monsters? That thought made his blood run icy cold.

No wonder Rajah and his red eyes upon first seeing him gave him the creeps.

"**You know that monkey?**" Sun asked, incredulously.

"Yeah." The blue hedgehog nodded, scratching his head, still unable to believe it himself. "He's Mnyambo's little friend, and was annoying me earlier before he left the tree house. But, I didn't know he'd end up here in the jungle, let alone turn into that giant gorilla."

"**Well, this is new.**" The Werehog remarked, and his rival shrugged. But then they heard Rajah shriek again and turned to see what he was screeching about, and noticed that the little monkey was climbing up a tree. To their surprise, while the two had been busy battling him in his giant ape monster form, neither Sonic or Sun noticed that they'd arrived in an area with trees full of fruit, and both of them realized that it must be one of the areas the people of Mazuri go to do collect their food.

Or maybe it was hidden and there were other areas filled with such delicious fruit. The sight of them made the two hungry and they couldn't go back to the village until morning. Even more surprising, Rajah plucked two bananas from a banana tree and tossed them to Sonic and Sun who caught one each.

"Yeah! Right on!" Sonic cheered, smiling happily. Since meeting Rajah earlier, this was the nicest thing the monkey has done for him and anyone all day. "Thanks, Rajah!"

He then cringed when the little monkey leaped down, and remembering how it would annoy him, Sonic quickly stood in defense while mentally groaning and bracing himself. He then thought that the banana offerings was just another joke to pick on him as well as Sun who raised an eyebrow. Rajah landed onto Sonic's head, causing him to nearly fall over.

"Ah! Hey!" The blue hedgehog cried out, groaning in annoyance. But just as he was about to scold the monkey again, he was surprised that Rajah wasn't laughing at him this time. Instead, he simply rested on Sonic's shoulder with an apologetic expression. Sonic was surprised at how sad he looked, and it was right there and then that he didn't see the creepiness on Rajah like he had earlier.

Instead, it was more gentle than before, and while the monkey still had that hyper active look and energy, it was more friendly. While the hedgehog was still a bit distrusting with Rajah, he saw that the little monkey's eyes were indeed very sad.

"Guess you're feeling sorry about before, huh? And trying to eat me and Sun when you were all big and Gorilla like?" Sonic asked, carefully. The little monkey, as though understanding him, gave a sad moan and a nod which sounded as though he was saying, 'Uh-huh' and that tugged a few heart strings in Sonic's chest.

So he smiled a little and replied, "Hey, don't worry about it. It was all that Dark Gaia stuff that made you crazy. So, no hard feelings?"

Rajah seemed to perk up at Sonic's response, and nuzzled at his face, cooing. Sonic laughed a bit. "H-hey! Whoa! Ha-ha! T-that tickles! Ha ha ha!"

As Sun watched the performance of Sonic being nuzzled by Rajah, he smiled in amusement while gazing at the banana in his hand, thoughtfully. He wondered if this was Rajah's way of saying thank you. Considering the scene, he had a feeling that the monkey was grateful for them for saving his life. Though he couldn't help but also wonder...

Did the awakening of Dark Gaia did more than just split the world apart, create those unusual and dangerous monsters as well as turning him into a Werehog at night?

* * *

Meanwhile, as night had fully arrived, many of the villagers seemed to be on edge despite that the entire continent was put back into place thanks to Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends. Sonic and Sun still haven't returned, and Tails and Chip were becoming more and more increasingly worried. Sonic did say a few minutes, but the longer this went on, the more their worry increased.

Now that the two had thought about it, something must've happened to both Sonic and Sun. To make things worse, considering Sun's condition, there was no way they could leave if he was seen in his werehog form.

'_Maybe this is why Sonic didn't want to talk about it, because it would scare everybody into panicking. Though the way things are going, I don't think it's gonna be calm around here right now anyway._' Tails thought to himself, worriedly, thinking back of what Sonic had said. More than anything, he was getting more and more worried about his best friend/big brother.

He had wanted to go out and find them, desperately. Tails would've gone off even on his own as the sun began to set, but Mnyambo and the kind Zebra told him that it was simply too dangerous and that it was best to wait, before the leader offered him and Chip to stay in his home for the night to ease off the worry. But the longer this went on, the more Tails and Chip really worried.

'_Sonic...Where are you?_' The two-tailed fox thought, sitting on the guest bed of Mnyambo's home. The hallway onway to the Wooden Elevator had been a little scary, but the human leader had been really kind. Tails knew that Sonic would be fine, and that Sun should be okay too, but he couldn't stop thinking about many possibilities of something going wrong.

And Chip's air-pacing didn't really help, especially since the little pixie was almost at his hysterical breakdown, like when they found out about Professor Pickle's kidnapping.

"What's taking so long?" Chip was saying, sounding even more worried than Tails felt, and he'd known his hedgehog best friend longer than the...whatever the pixie was. "I hope Sonic and Sun are okay. What if they're lost? Or in real big trouble?"

'_This is really _not_ helping, Chip._' Tails grumbled in his mind, trying not to panic as much.

"What if those monsters got to them? Or they're trapped by that horrible Beach-Ball Man?" Chip continued to rant in panic, beginning to fly faster and faster.

Despite his worries, Tails couldn't help but giggle at the new nickname Chip had christened onto the evil doctor, and tried to hide it with his hand over his mouth. Sonic would have such a good laugh when he heard it later. First, he had to remain calm and try to get Chip to calm down too. If Sonic could survive falling from Eggman's Fortress and whatever else happened including Sun and his unusual transformation into a Werehog, he can survive a night in the jungle. It wouldn't be the first time the blue hedgehog did that anyway, knowing him.

"I'm sure they're fine, Chip." Tails finally spoke up, as calmly as he could. "There's no way Sonic's gonna let himself or Sun get caught that easily. They...probably had to fight and defeat some monsters or some of Eggman's robots that you guys might've missed and have to camp out in the jungle tonight, because of Sun's you-know-what."

"You...think they're gonna be okay?" Chip asked, with a hint of some hope in his voice, even if he was still extremely worried, and Tails couldn't blame him.

"Yeah." The two-tailed fox nodded. "Sonic's faced a lot worse than a jungle and still managed to get out okay. Like the time in Station Square he faced a giant water monster called Chaos when it absorbed the Chaos Emeralds. It hadn't been easy, but Sonic managed to do it with the Emeralds' power."

The little pixie blinked in surprise and awe as he hovered over to Sonic's best friend. "Really? Sonic could do that?"

Tails nodded. "Positive thoughts and feelings are the real power of the Chaos Emeralds. He can do that whenever the situation calls for it." He then sighed and shrugged a little sadly. "Though, I guess this is one of those rare times that Eggman tricked him, and I don't blame Sonic for that. Never will."

"Wow." Chip muttered thoughtfully. He had known that Sonic knew the power of the Chaos Emeralds, but he never knew that the blue hedgehog could do something as incredible as using the power of the Chaos Emeralds to save the day when it really calls for it. On the other hand, while Tails' belief in him was reassuring, he was still worried. "Um, can I ask you something, Tails?"

"Sure." Tails nodded.

"How did you and Sonic meet and become best friends and brothers?" He asked.

Blinking in surprise at the question, Tails smiled as he began to explain the day he first met his best friend Sonic the Hedgehog. "Well, before I met Sonic, everybody would make fun of me and bully me because of both of my tails and that I like to build and fix machines for good. Nothing like what Eggman does. Then one day, I saw Sonic and that's when everything changed."

* * *

_**Flash-Back: A long time ago...**_

_A younger Tails was trapped in the restrains of a Possum, mean girl who was holding him back tightly, while her two companions, a young but a bit large badger boy, and another, one normal tailed fox, looking to be the oldest of the group and taller than the two-tailed fox, were standing around a stump which a small, digital brain-looking device peacefully sat, doomed to meet it's fate._

_"Go ahead, smash the freak's creepy toy." The dark-coloured fox ordered with a sly grin and a mean laugh._

_"No! No, wait!" Tails pleaded, struggling to pull himself free from his restrains. "Please, don't-!"_

_But it was too late, as the badgar kid smashed Tails' latest invention with a hammer, crushing it flat and destroying it. The young fox stopped struggling and gasped in horror, heart-break and sorrow. His invention...was gone right before his eyes. Before Tails could even begin to cry or scream, or anything, the mean kids laughed cruelly as though they were practically enjoying this._

_"Not so special now, huh, Two-Tails?" The Possum Girl grinned, forcefully shoving Tails to the ground as the younger child cried out before landing hard. Her two companions laughed at the two-tailed fox's despair._

_"Face it, Miles Pro-Loser, you're a born a freak. Freaks like you are forever alone. If you want to be friends with anybody, try being friends with Dr. Robotnik instead since you two have a thing for building things." The older fox taunted, grinning evilly. "Then again, you wouldn't last long if he got your hands on you, if the stories are true."_

_"I thought Robotnik was defeated by that blue guy...what was his name again? Sanic, Sonir, Zonic?" The Badger pointed out, while struggling to remember a name._

_"Just call him Blue, because no one knows about him. No point in even bothering to say his name either. He's just as a freak as Miley, here." The older fox scoffed, walking away. "Come on, guys. Let's go."_

_His two companions followed, leaving a very lonely and heart-broken Tails lying on the ground, beginning to cry as the older fox farewelled cruelly. "See you around, Tails. Ahahahaha!"_

_Left all alone, Tails just laid there, the older fox's words repeatedly echoing loudly in his mind, to the point that he just sobbed. Worst part is, he believed that bullies were right. Maybe he was better off being used as the horrible Robotnik's robot slave. At least then, the young fox would be put out of his misery. As much as Tails wanted to shake that horrible and terrifying thought out of his mind, what else could he do, if he had to spend all of his life being picked on and bullied because of who he is?_

_A short time later, walking all alone in the woods with his ruined small and crushed invention cupped in his hands, Tails still had lingering tears as loneiness and sadness ached his heart. With no friends or family to turn to, he was all alone in this world._

_Then, he heard a voice, an unfamiliar one._

_"This place is huge."_

_"Huh?" Tails murmured, wondering who could it be. Up ahead, he noticed a blue blur running up from the side on the path behind the bushes he was just approaching. Curosity getting the better of him, as despite being four years old, he was highly intellegent, the young fox crept up closer, peering through the bushes and saw, on the other side on the path, standing and gazing his surroundings, was a blue hedgehog._

_Sonic the Hedgehog, who was no older than eleven years old, his blue fur with a peach nuzzle, chest and arms, emerald green eyes, white gloves with red and white running shoes. Unaware of Tails' presence, Sonic was looking around as though checking for something, or maybe wondering where he was and where he should go. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Sonic than ran off much faster than Tails could had seen anyone, because he was gone in a matter of just one or two seconds, if not impossibly less._

_It was one of the most amazing things he'd ever seen. Tails had thought the blue blur may be the same guy who fought the evil doctor just a couple of months ago, but the way how he ran, how he looked, how brave he seemed...the young fox thought Sonic was so cool._

_"Whoa, he's really fast! I wonder where he's going?" Tails whispered in awe. Deciding to see if he could get a chance to talk to him, he immediately followed the path further into the woods._

_Unfortunately, Tails already lost track of him, but the way how Sonic looked somehow drove him to keep going anyway. There was something about him that he wanted to know, to be friends with...assuming the hedgehog didn't make fun of him. It wasn't long before the young fox found himself on the seashores, and something else that caught his interest. One of the things that he loves._

_A bi-plane sat on the sand, a bit worn and somewhat a bit damaged, as though it had to make an emergancy landing, but still in pretty good condition. It was red and white, and pretty interesting. Tails had seen planes like these in books when he was two years old, and it was in his collection(before that got destroyed by another group of bullies), but never had he got up close to this one._

_Did it belong to the blue hedgehog guy he saw earlier? If so, that would explain why Tails never saw him before. Sonic was new here._

_"A Bi-Plane!" Tails exclaimed excitedly as he ran up to it. Despite that he shouldn't be touching other people's things without permission, his curosity really got to him. He carefully climbed up to the cockpit and instantly fell in love with it. "Wow! It must be really fast, but I bet I can make it go faster."_

_Seeing the few problems with the mechanical work, Tails raced home to get what he needed before returning back via flight, thanks to his tails as they gave him the ability to fly and he returned ten minutes later with the items; tools and paint cans with brushes. He got to work into fixing and rearranging the plane's engine and such, and once that was fixed, he began repainting the plane. Seeing how the guy he saw was blue, maybe he wouldn't mind if the plane was the same colour as him._

_He was half-way done with the first coat when a voice, seemingly more amused than insulted, calmly asked behind him. "What do you think you're doing?"_

_Flinching in a bit of fright, Tails froze before slowly turned around and saw, standing right there halfway across him, was Sonic who had his arms folded to his chest with a calm smirk._

_"Erm, sorry. I just saw your plane and um..." Tails apologetically began, hopping off the plane's wing and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I fixed up the engine and changed it a bit. Hope you don't mind."_

_A pause._

_"I like the colour, too." Sonic remarked, sounding impressed and pleased, and even surprised by this very kind generosity from a stranger, let alone a kid who had unusual two tails. But hey, the kid was harmless as far as he could tell, not to mention surprisingly kind and smart, and really cute._

_Surprised and amazed by the response, Tails relaxed a bit and excitedly added, "I even made it go faster."_

_"So, you followed me all morning to check out my plane?" Sonic asked curiously as he stepped up closer._

_"Um, not exactly." Tails admitted, nervously as he explained. "Thing is, I like to build and fix stuff, and everybody's been picking on me because of it and my two tails. Then I saw you and thought how you looked so cool and, I thought that I'd try and fix your plane and maybe we can be friends."_

_That pulled the heart-strings in Sonic's chest. He couldn't understand why someone so young, so smart but fun and kind as he could tell already, and adorable be picked on. The blue hedgehog saw absolutely nothing wrong with him, and hearing briefly about the kid's back-story and his wish to be his friend made Sonic make up his mind._

_"Ya got a name?" The blue hedgehog asked, kindly._

_"I'm Miles Prower!" Tails excitedly replied, before sheepishly adding once he realized how silly he looked. "Uh, but everybody calls me Tails."_

_"My name's Sonic." Sonic responded, smiling. "I could use a mechanic and a friend."_

_Tails blinked, stunned by Sonic's response. He was really willing to be his friend? "Really?"_

_"Yeah, you bet!" The blue hedgehog chuckled, giving Tails a thumbs up. "Besides, I see nothing wrong with your tails. I think it makes you even more cute."_

_"You really...think I'm cute?" Tails asked, even more amazed and even finding himself blushing. This was the first time in his entire life that, other than his parents before they were taken away from him, anybody thought he was cute._

_Sonic nodded with a warm smile and a grin. "Totally! It's not everyday ya' get to meet anybody as unique as you."_

_"W-well, there's more to my tails than just having them. You wanna see?" The young fox replied, a bit embarrassed._

_"Sure."_

_Tails nodded, and took a couple steps back before repelling his tails before hovering and flying through the air in circles. Sonic's eyes widened in amazement and awe, his smile widening even more._

_"Whoa! You can fly!?" Sonic exclaimed excitedly. "That's amazing!"_

_The young fox felt his heart leap when heard this, especially since everybody else who had seen him do this skill were either terrified, angered or disgusted. But Sonic...there really was amazement all over his features and in his eyes. Tails beamed happily as he then landed gently on the ground, and Sonic quickly raced up to meet him._

_"Man, that is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed. "You're the only guy I've ever met that can fly like that."_

_"Well, you're the only guy I've ever met who can ran really fast." Tails replied happily, which made Sonic laugh and the young fox shared it immediately._

_"Tails, I have a real good feeling that we're gonna be the best of friends. I really like you!" Sonic said happily._

_Tails found himself even more happy, half-thinking that this was some sort of dream that he didn't want to end. For the first time in his life, he felt like he found a real friend, one who didn't pick on him because of who he is. In fact, Sonic liked everything about him, just as the young fox really liked a lot of things about the hedgehog already; he was cool, calm, estatic, fun, funny, and super fast, not to mention kind and caring and supportive. It was impossible not to like someone like Sonic the Hedgehog._

_"Thanks, Sonic. I really like you too." Tails said modestly. It was now Sonic's turn to be bashful as he scratched his head, chuckling sheepishly._

_The two shared beaming smiles, and from that point on, their lives ultimately changed forever._

* * *

_**Back in the Present...**_

"Since then, we've been best friends. I even helped Sonic to beat Eggman the second time, and with each day and adventures, we became closer together." Tails finished explaining, fondly thinking back to that day. He then sheepishly added, "Uh, even though he still likes to go on adventures by himself and I really don't mind, but yeah, he's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Wow..." Chip murmured, amazed and touched by the story. "No wonder you guys are like brothers. Still, it's not fair that you were picked on by other people."

Tails sadly shrugged. "That's just how it goes for me. But thanks to Sonic, I'm a lot more confident now. It thanks to him that I met a lot of friends; Knuckles, Shadow, everybody that I met, and even you."

The little Pixie was even more amazed at how Sonic's influence had made Tails more confident, and having made so many friends. It reminded him of how he felt a lot better almost instantly when they first met, how the blue hedgehog had been willing to help get his memory back. Chip then thought back to the night before, when Sonic had woken up from a nightmare that left him on edge a little.

How he felt his own confidence waver ever since the world broke apart, how the blue hedgehog blamed himself for all that's happened. As odd as it sounds, Chip realized that he made Sonic feel better, when it was usually Sonic's gift in making others feel better. He didn't know if he should tell Tails about what happened between the hedgehog and Sun or not.

"On the other hand..." Tails began to admit, his own worry slowly increasing. "I'm really worried about him. I-I mean, I know he and Sun will be okay...At least, I hope so. I don't want to think of a world without Sonic."

"Sonic and Sun are alright, young Tails." Mnyambo's voice unexpectedly spoke behind the duo, causing them to jump in fright as they spun around to see the shaman standing right there, having approaching during their conversation. Seeing their reactions, he apologetically waved. "My apologies."

"N-no no, it's okay, Mr. Mnyambo." Tails quickly replied, a bit shakily. "It's just..."

"You are both very concerned for Sonic's well-being." The human leader gently finished. When both Tails and Chip were unable to reply to that, Mnyambo nodded. "I understand, but there is no need. They will return first thing in the morning. As will my close friend Rajah. However, it seems the darkness of Dark Gaia has began to spread."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked, confused.

"It is best to be explained in the morning, young one. You both need to eat and rest to save your strengths."

"Don't you think we should stay up in case they come back or if something went wrong?" Chip pointed out, worriedly.

Mnyambo shook his head, "It is far too dangerous to venture out into the night. It is best to get some sleep. Do not fear, Sonic and Sun will be back."

Even though both Tails and Chip were greatly worried about Sonic and Sun, the former two knew that Mnyambo was right. There wasn't a thing they could do but wait. Still, it left them very uneasy.

* * *

It took a while for Sonic and Sun to gather up some fruit, picking out which was safe and which weren't before finding a decent safe spot to camp for the night. They gathered up enough fire wood to make a campfire, and that Sun's current form had already scared off a few predators, with a lion having screeched like a frightened cat before running away to escape the Werehog who rolled his eyes, and Sonic having laughed.

After they had their dinner, the two agreed to settle in for the night, with Sun taking the first watch despite Sonic having volunteering to go first, but after what happened, decided not to argue in case the beast inside his rival rose up again.

"Not even a week, but things have been really crazy." Sonic remarked as he yawned, relaxing on a tree branch, leaning against the tree trunk with his hands tucked behind his head, one leg over the other. On a higher branch on the other side was Rajah who was nibbling on a berry of sorts, and down below was Sun who was leaning against the tree as he gazed at the campfire that crackled.

"**It's not over yet.**" Sun reminded, while mentally wondering why Sonic would sleep in a tree branch. "**And aren't you uncomfortable like that?**"

"I'm fine." The blue hedgehog replied with a smirk. "I do this almost all the time. I can sleep just about anywhere. As long as there's enough space and not cramped or small, anywhere's fine. Besides, a tree's definitely comfy. Grass is too, but this will do."

The Werehog blinked as he gazed up at his rival, finding himself admittedly curious. "**You really travel alot if you say stuff like that.**"

Sonic laughed, "What can I say? I'm a guy who loves adventures. I've seen a lotta cool places not everyone gets to see every often in a lifetime. Lot of cities, tons of terrians, many zones, a floating island...Heh, even Eggman's fortress was not my first time up in space, and ancient ruins of lost civilization. It's incredible, and there's still so much to see in the world, so much to do, a lot of people to meet, the food to eat, still heaps to learn. I wanna see it all. It's kinda been my dream."

"**How the heck did you manage to see all that without slowing down?**" Sun asked, a bit dumbfounded at what he was hearing. He didn't think he could see all of that in less than one year...unless he had the same speed as Sonic.

"I do have a house back at Green Hill Zone, but I don't usually stay there long." The blue hedgehog replied. "Heck, as far as that goes, I don't stay long anywhere. No matter where I go, or what I see, one thing's for certain, the whole world is my home."

He gazed up at the sky which was lit up with glittering stars, fondly staring as though he was lost in his thoughts, but still had his conversation with Sun. "You see, Sun, a continent isn't just a world itself. It's part of the planet, along with other continents the world has to offer. Home isn't just where you were born or grow up in, it's where your heart longs to be. As far as that goes, the world is where everybody is born, and no one should take it for granted. Everybody has the right to choose what they want to do, to be free with their own choices in what they want to do in life. That's something Eggman doesn't understand, because he's too absorbed in his stupid fantasy in ruling it and making everybody obey him."

Sighing as he thought about how all of this unfolded. "A fantasy world of a future that is too cold and cruel can't compare with reality, what the world, the real world, has. There's so many possibilites out there, so what kind of place would Eggman's be if it's just nothing but metal and people doing the same thing as he wants? It isn't fair."

'_**Hate to admit it, but he has a point. A world ruled by that Egg-shaped idiot and everyone obeying him, with nothing but robots and metal?**_" Sun thought to himself, and while to him it sounded like Sonic was bragging, somehow he knew that the blue hedgehog wasn't. Strangely enough, his rival spoke in odd wisdom, how he viewed reality, and...what he said wasn't farfectched.

He couldn't remember where he was born, so he had no idea where to go, or what to do. Well, at the moment, his top priority was to find a way to break this curse, and help Sonic and Chip to put Mobius back together. Still, what would he do once this was over? Would Sun ever recover his memories? Where would he go after this?

"**Eggman's idea of a world sounds boring.**" Sun grumbled instead.

"Not just boring, but horrible too." Sonic muttered, his smile fading to that of concern. "First time I ever fought him, he tried using innocent animals to fuel his robots, including some friends back at home. Couldn't believe it."

"**Okay, that's disturbing. Does he always have sick ideas similar to this one?**"

"Yeah, unfortunately. He doesn't know when to quit, but then again, I won't either. No matter how many times he wants to win, I'll always stop him and save the world and everybody in it, especially my friends."

"**Speaking of friends,**" Sun remembered, quirking an eyebrow. "**How is it that you and that fox kid become friends and brothers in the first place?**"

Sonic blinked, surprised by this question. While he was still miffed how Tails was still picked on, he saw no harm in revealing his past to Sun even if it could be a different story with the monster inside the Werehog's body.

"Which version of the story do ya' want; the short version or the long version?" He asked, a bit teasingly.

"**Surprise me.**" The Werehog responded sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Sonic chuckled with a grin.

"Okay. It goes back to just a couple months after I first stopped Eggman, who back then everybody knew as Robotnik, but I also used to call him Robuttnik." He began.

"**Ro**_**-butt-**_**nik?**" Sun repeated, snickering as he was unable to hold back his laughter at the first nick-name Sonic gave Eggman. "**Now I won't be able to face him without thinking that name. Not sure if I like that better or Eggman better.**"

The blue hedgehog laughed, "Took me a bit of a while to come up with Eggman and stick with it. Heck, even he decided to officially rename himself as such. It kinda stuck, I guess. Anyway, I was going on another adventure while making sure Eggman wasn't causing any trouble when my bi-plane the Tornado malfunctioned and I had to make an emergancy landing West Side Island. Good thing I didn't crash, but having a busted engine was no fun."

"**Wait, wait. The Tornado? Like Tails' Tornado 1? You actually lend it to him?**" Sun blinked, surprised.

"Yep. Well, the Tornado 1 is another version of our old plane and you'll soon see why." Sonic nodded, smiling as he thought back to that day as he continued to relive his past.

* * *

_**Flash-Back: A long time ago...**_

_"AAAAAHHH!" A younger Sonic screamed as he was having trouble with the steering, as the Tornado's engine began to fail and he panicked. "Don't crash, don't crash, don't crash!"_

_This is bad. If the plane's engine failed him now, there was a real good chance that he'd plummet into the ocean and he was history. Sonic really didn't fancy on taking an unexpected dip and sink to his demise, let alone crashing into it and his plane exploding. He had to land somewhere fast. Anywhere!_

_It was then that he spotted an island, similar to South Island, but a bit bigger. It seemed to be close and yet so far. Still, it was better than landing in the ocean._

_"Okay, I just need to land this on the beach and then this should be a piece of cake." Sonic thoguht to himself, gulping nervously. "Hope I don't end up splatting like a pancake."_

_It wasn't easy, as the eleven year old blue hedgehog wasn't the most experienced in flying, but he still managed. He prefered running, but when it came to small islands, there wasn't much between continents and the entire ocean. Sonic struggled but eventually made it. The Tornado landed in a bit of a bump that was uncomfortable, but it slowed to a stop, and he sighed in relief._

_"Phew. Nailed it." Sonic sighed, shutting off the engine and chuckled nervously. "What a way to go; Sonic the Hedgehog, the hero of South Island crashing to his death on another island because of a plane trip. Yeah, that'd be an embarrassing way to die, especially with Robuttnik still on the loose somewhere."_

_He wasted no time in checking how bad the engine was and groaned. "Great, I'm gonna need some tools to fix this up, and I haven't brought my tool box with me. I wish I could've learned better skills in being a mechanic. Guess I'll have to find one."_

_Seeing how the forest of the island seemed somewhat deserted, Sonic hopped out of the bi-plane and glanced around, before racing into the forest to find at least a sea-side village or a town close by. He ran around the path hoping to find somebody that could help him. Being a speedster, the blue hedgehog searched for an hour only to find that he was lost...and back to the same path he passed that lead to the beach._

_"This place is huge." He muttered to himself, coming to a stop and glanced around his surroundings. '_Okay...so this path isn't the one to find somebody. Guess I'll have to back-track and try another one._' He thought to himself, before running up in half of his actual speed._

_Unaware that he was spotted by someone. Or, it may of looked like it when he spotted something yellow and white during his sight-seeing. He could've sworn that it was moving, and it had blue eyes...a citizen, maybe? Or a...unusual creature? He dismissed the thoughts of either a monster or a robot._

_"Nah, I'm seeing things. Probably just a wild flower or something." Sonic said to himself, making it back to the beach in no time and skid to a stop. Sighing again as he placed his hands on his hips and gazed up at his plane, he muttered. "Guess I'll be staying here for a while. But hey, at least I've got an excuse to explore a new place. This island is pretty cool."_

_Shrugging as he still had a bit of time(not like he was in a major hurry to leave anyway), Sonic turned to another direction to find another way to find people, and happily jogging in the new terrority while he was at it._

_Unfortunately, as he explored more of the island, spotting opened areas but still nowhere near where he wanted to be, Sonic found that it could take ages before he would find his way around. The forest was thick, and he could end up here for days on end. Another hour later, he decided to give up for a bit and take a nap before trying again._

_"Either the nearest town is a day or two away, which I could get there in an hour if the shore wasn't big, or I just gotten myself in the worst luck possible and crash landed on a deserted island. I'm not against exploring even the most deserted places, but I don't wanna be stuck here for the rest of my life." Sonic grumbled to himself._

_Sighing, the blue hedgehog knew that this wouldn't be easy. He'd just have to stay until he did find someone to help fix up his plane and after thanking that said person for helping him, then he'd leave and continue his journey. But as he walked back towards his vessel, something in front of him made him stop behind the trees and bushes in confusion and no small amount of surprise. _

_While the Tornado was still where it was, apparently somebody had been following him and his previous dismissal about the yellow and white thing he'd seen earlier was thrown out of the window. It hadn't been a flower at all. But a Mobian; a little...fox kid with two tails? Now that you didn't see every day._

_'_Who's that?_' Sonic thought to himself. The fox couldn't be any older than four and yet he was...painting the plane in blue paint like a professional? Not the graffiti jokes punks would do, but actually repainting the whole plane. The blue hedgehog had thought of giving the plane a make-over but hadn't decided on which colour to give it._

_He had to admit, the blue paint was a very nice touch and Sonic liked it a whole lot. '_Heh, I guess I found myself an admirer. Ah, who am I kidding? Everybody's probably heard about me kicking Robotnik's butt already if I'm that famous._'_

_Still, it's best to be a little cautious, but at the same time, the way how the kid was humming to himself like a normal four year old-at least Sonic thought the fox was four-didn't make him a threat or even just a teeny bit trouble._

_So, he casually approached with a hint of amusement as he asked aloud. "What do you think you're doing?"_

_Flinching in a bit of fright, the fox kid, Miles "Tails" Prower, froze before slowly turned around to see Sonic who had his arms folded to his chest with a calm smirk. Now seeing the full position of the kid, the blue eyes that looked nervous but kind made the blue hedgehog relax._

_'_Hey, he's really cute._' Sonic thought to himself now that he got a good look at him. Even the two tails made the little guy even more adorable._

_"Erm, sorry. I just saw your plane and um..." Tails apologetically began, hopping off the plane's wing and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, apparently thinking he was in trouble. "I fixed up the engine and changed it a bit. Hope you don't mind."_

_'_He did that...for me?_' Sonic thought, even more surprised and impressed. Tails must be even more smarter than he thought for his age, and seeing how he was so kind to do that even without the blue hedgehog knowing, he relaxed even further._

_"I like the colour, too." Sonic remarked._

_Tails looked surprised and relieved to hear this and relaxed a bit, then excitedly added, "I even made it go faster."_

_'_Wow. I can't wait to try this out. Gotta hand it to this kid, he's amazing._' Sonic thought to himself, as he quickly found that he really wanted to know him better already. The young fox had a lot of potential. Then another thought into his mind; he had been spotted earlier hence to why he noticed the young fox briefly, probably because of his speed, and hadn't even fully noticed._

_"So, you followed me all morning to check out my plane?" Sonic asked curiously as he stepped up closer._

_"Um, not exactly." Tails admitted, nervously as he explained. "Thing is, I like to build and fix stuff, and everybody's been picking on me because of it and my two tails. Then I saw you and thought how you looked so cool and, I thought that I'd try and fix your plane and maybe we can be friends."_

_Everybody had been picking on him because of his skills and how he looked? While Sonic didn't show it, his heart ached a little for the young fox. Poor little guy. Someone so cute and smart and very friendly to be picked on because he was different. So not cool. From the looks of it, he really did look like he needed a friend...and Sonic was going to be that friend, that he promised himself._

_"Ya got a name?" The blue hedgehog asked, kindly._

_"I'm Miles Prower!" Tails excitedly replied, before sheepishly adding, as though realizing how silly he looked. "Uh, but everybody calls me Tails."_

_'_Makes sense, but that just makes him even more cool._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself. He had a great feeling about Tails._

_"My name's Sonic." Sonic responded, smiling. "I could use a mechanic and a friend."_

_Tails blinked, stunned by his response. "Really?"_

_"Yeah, you bet!" The blue hedgehog chuckled, giving Tails a thumbs up. "Besides, I see nothing wrong with your tails. I think it makes you even more cute."_

_"You really...think I'm cute?" Tails asked, even more amazed and even finding himself blushing._

_Sonic nodded with a warm smile and a grin. "Totally! It's not everyday ya' get to meet anybody as unique as you."_

_"W-well, there's more to my tails than just having them. You wanna see?" The young fox replied, a bit embarrassed._

_"Sure." Sonic answered, finding himself curious._

_Tails nodded, and took a couple steps back before repelling his tails before hovering and flying through the air in circles. Sonic's eyes widened in amazement and awe, his smile widening even more._

_'_COOL!_' He thought to himself, as he exclaimed excitedly. "Whoa! You can fly!? That's amazing!"_

_The young fox felt his heart leap when heard this. Tails beamed happily as he then landed gently on the ground, and Sonic quickly raced up to meet him._

_"Man, that is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed. "You're the only guy I've ever met that can fly like that."_

_"Well, you're the only guy I've ever met who can ran really fast." Tails replied happily, which made Sonic laugh and the young fox shared it immediately._

_"Tails, I have a real good feeling that we're gonna be the best of friends. I really like you!" Sonic said happily._

_"Thanks, Sonic. I really like you too." Tails said modestly. It was now Sonic's turn to be bashful as he scratched his head, chuckling sheepishly._

_'_Yep. Tails is definitely a great kid already. We're so gonna be awesome friends._' Sonic thought to himself. He wasn't sure why, but he could feel a special bond form between them and they haven't even known each other for long. It's almost as though...they were meant to meet._

_One thing's for certain, Sonic had suddenly found himself in responsibility for Tails, and he didn't mind it at all. If anything, he welcomed it. It gave him a new meaning of life, a new friend._

_The two shared beaming smiles, and it was that time that their bond had began to form._

* * *

_**Back in the Present...**_

"Even though we both ended up having to stop Eggman just a day later, we became best friends ever since, and during the journey, I grew to really love him. That's when I made the decision to adopt him as my little brother. One of the best days of my life." Sonic concluded.

"**So you don't have any siblings before then?**" Sun asked, admittedly touched by the story even if he tried to pretend not to be too interested. Still, that just made him see how cheerful and warm hearted Sonic was even more.

The cobalt hedgehog shook his head. "Nah, I'm the only kid to my parents. But hey, I love all of my friends, and I never break my promises to anybody. That includes you, Sun."

'_**I still have a lot to learn about the hedgehog. But...I guess he really isn't that bad after all. I don't know who I really am, but I'll figure it out. Heh, can't believe I'm starting to like him already...and that's better than what's inside me.**_' The Werehog thought to himself.

It was then that Sonic gave another yawn, feeling very sleepy now and snuggled a bit to make himself more comfortable. "Well, better get some shut eye. Gotta meet up with Tails and Chip and head back to Spagonia tomorrow. Wake me when you wanna get some sleep."

"**Consider it done.**" Sun replied, almost absently.

"'Night, Sun." The blue hedgehog murmured as he closed his eyes and drifted off into deep sleep. On the tree branch above him, Rajah snuggled up and fell asleep himself.

His rival gazed up at the sleeping hedgehog thoughtfully before gazing at the crackling flames of the campfire, thinking about what he learned in the past few days, and wondering if he could ever get his memories back and be free from the curse that was placed upon him. The latter part, at least, was the easy-ish part. Not completely easy all together, but easier than getting his memories back.

'_**Who am I? Where do I come from?**_' The Werehog thought to himself, gazing at his clawed, furry hand before clutching it into a fist.

Sighing to himself, he gazed up at the sky thoughtfully before keeping is eyes peeled for anymore signs of danger.

* * *

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted as he blasted his power at a monster he and Knuckles were fighting near the Kingdom of Soleanna, where the two had discovered was the latest location of one of the pieces of the Master Emerald. As they reached the outskirts, they were almost immediately ambushed by the strange monsters, but it wasn't anything the two couldn't handle.

"Take this, you creep!" Knuckles growled, sucker-punching the monster right in the jaw just moments after the black hedgehog launched his attack.

"Behold, my true power!" Shadow grunted, unleashing another attack of his Chaos Energ which ultimately sent the monster flying and he went into his own spin mode, finishing it off where it crashed onto the ground in defeat and a loud moan before vanishing without a trace.

The two of them relaxed their stances while substaining a few injuries, but nothing a couple of bandages couldn't fix. Knuckles scoffed before approaching the shoreline where he picked up the piece of the Master Emerald he ended on collecting before the monster arrived to delay his mission even further.

"These things are more annoying than the Black Army." Shadow commented, folding his arms as he frowned deeply.

"Tell me about it." Knuckles agreed, placing the Emerald piece into his bag. "It doesn't help that they seem to be coming from this Dark Gaia thing, no thanks to Eggman."

The black hedgehog closed his eyes to think. The red echidna had a real good point. The only explaination for the appearances of these creatures were Dark Gaia itself, the abomination of the planet that awakens to break it apart once every thousands, if not millions of years. Not only that, the darkness it spreads seeps deeply into hearts of most, and even...

Even turning some into hideous monsters, like Sun the Hedgehog who, along with that little pixie dog, Chip, lost memories of the past. Or so he and Sonic think. Chip he could trust, because that little guy, whatever he was, was certainly friendly(and likes to eat a lot). Like Sonic, Chip...reminded Shadow of his beloved Maria.

And himself when it comes to memories.

"Sonic will handle him." Shadow replied nonchalantly. "Even though I'd like to give him a good beating of every inch of his miserable life."

"Leave me some of him. I still owe that idiot a pounding for the previous times, and for doing this to the Master Emerald again." His companion said, before admitting. "But you're right. Sonic will stop him like he always does. That's not what worries me, though."

"I take that you're thinking about Sun." The black hedgehog quiered, even though it was more of a statement than a question.

Knuckles nodded. "I don't trust him. Especially from what Sonic has told me back at Apotos, how he was almost eaten by that guy in his...monstrous form and I have a feeling Sun attempted to try again when I heard Sonic scream that night."

"But he hasn't told you because he's trying to hide it."

The echidna nodded, as though thinking along the same lines.

Shadow sighed, admitting. "I don't trust that new hedgehog, either. There's...something wrong with that guy. Not just because of what he turns into at night. I can't explain it, but there's something...more evil within him I can't shake off. I felt it when I first met him in Spagonia. Not to mention Sun himself...he oddly reminds me of myself."

"Why is that?" Knuckles asked, shocked that Shadow had somehow sensed something more sinister within Sun, that Sonic didn't sense at all but at the same time told him that he didn't trust Sun that much either.

"Black Doom's blood was used to create me fifty years ago." Shadow began. "That was the prologue of a disaster, in more ways than one."

"What's that got to do with this?" His companion asked, dumbfounded and not following.

The black hedgehog shook his head, "I've been thinking. At first, I came up with a theory that when Dr. Eggman used the Chaos Emeralds to break the world apart, it somehow triggered Chaos Control that brought Sun to where Sonic was, and as a side effect along with the darkness of Dark Gaia, it turned him into that hideous and ugly form that only happens at night. However, what Professor Pickle told us with that Gaia Manuscript made me have second thoughts."

_"What the Gaia Manuscripts also say is that when Dark Gaia begins to awaken, a being born from the body sample of a human or a mobian or an animal of a pure heart along with tears, a great power that is drained and anger and sorrow will appear, both as a creature of darkness, and heart-given new life form with a heart and mind of their own. However, it comes with a price." Pickle told them._

_"What price?" Shadow questioned suspiciously._

_"The darkness of the being must be sacrificed as well as the newly form lifeform itself, should they be good or evil." The human professor explained._

"I may be wrong, but it shouldn't be out of question completely." Shadow continued, gazing his crimson eyes directly towards Knuckles purple ones. "Legend says that when Dark Gaia begins to awaken, a being is born from the body sample of either a human, a mobian animal or a normal animal from the pure heart."

"Yeah, I remember that part." Knuckles stated, before suddenly he realized what Shadow was talking about and gasped incredulously. "Wait a second! Are you saying that-!?"

"Like I said, I may be wrong. But there is a chance that Sun didn't get teleported via Chaos Control at all. Sonic doesn't know it, but it could be that Sun was created by Dark Gaia, as well as the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic himself and that is why Sun has no memories of his past; because his past is from our resident blue hedgehog." Shadow finished.

A long tensed silence.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" The echidna shouted, leaning right up to Shadow's face incredulously and in utter disbelief as though the ultimate lifeform as finally lost it. "Sonic was zapped by Eggman's machine, not strapped to an experiment table! This isn't like what happened to you!"

Shadow was unfazed by the shouting and while he didn't like the flash-back of the day he was born since it reminded him of how things went horribly wrong that costed Maria her life and Gerald Robotnik his sanity, he remained somewhat firm to this second theory and calmly said. "I said it twice and I will say it for the third and final time. _I may be wrong_. Until we know for certain, Sun needs to be kept a closer eye on."

"Oh yeah, and Sonic's gonna be having a field day if what you said is true." Knuckles stated sarcastically. "Explain to me how him having a clone of himself turning into an ugly thing that wants to eat him makes Sun created from him?"

"You really are a knuckle-head." The black hedgehog sighed, exasperated and tired.

Knuckles growled in annoyance and frustration before sharply turning and folded his arms, grunting. "Ugh! Well, excuse me for being the last of my kind! At least you were created from a species that are still around even today!"

"At least you or Sonic didn't suffer any memory loss like I had to go through, and what faker's new friend Chip is going through." The ultimate lifeform scoffed. "I'm no more scientific than Professor Robotnik and Dr. Eggman, and asking either one to solve this is out of question, with the Professor dead for fifty years, and the doctor wanting to dominate the planet."

"Look, unless Sonic left out a few details, there's no way he'd end up having a piece of himself falling off or something. But you're right; asking Eggman is like him building an amusement park to say that he's sorry, which will never happen in a million years." The guardian sighed, cooling down a little.

Shadow closed his eyes at that response. He knew that Sonic had left out a few things, and having him admit his fears and worries was a rare thing, becaues the blue hedgehog didn't want to let anyone down or make those close to him worry. It was only because of what was happening that Sonic admitted that he was scared, because other than water, nothing else scared him much at all. Or maybe he hid his fears to himself because he knew that if he ran away because he was frightened, Eggman would certainly win.

That alone had Shadow remember what Sonic had requested him to do if anything went horribly wrong than it already was.

_"Hey, Shadow. Can I...ask you a big favor?" He asked, somewhat pleadingly._

_"A favor?" Shadow questioned, wondering what his rival intended on now._

_"As much as I hate to say this, and I really have a feeling that everything will be okay, but...if anything happens to me, I want you to save the world in my place and restore the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic requested._

_"Why me?"_

_"Because I don't want anything bad happen to Tails or Amy or anybody else. I trust Knuckles to do it, buuuuut...Well, he's got his hands full right now with the Master Emerald being in pieces, and we're both the only guys who can use the Chaos Emeralds to turn Super heroes." The blue hedgehog said._

_He then smirked and added, "Come on, you saved the world from Black Doom, remember?"_

_"Good point." Shadow admitted. Even though he had a feeling there was more to Sonic's request than what his rival was saying, he decided to keep it in mind just in case. "All right. I'll see to that if anything does happen. Though knowing you, you getting killed is highly unlikely."_

_"Thank you." Sonic replied with a smile._

Plus what he'd told him back in Mazuri.

_"He says he doesn't know and said that everything he said earlier was the truth, but when I told him that I thought he was lying and that he's part of Eggman's plans only to be betrayed and then lost his memories and that's maybe why he's after that Egg-shaped loser. Kinda sounds convincing but...I'm not really convinced." Sonic explained._

_The blue hedgehog then gazed at the floor and admitted in shame, "I'm really freaked out, Shads. What're we gonna do?"_

_The older hedgehog placed a hand onto Sonic's shoulder, surprising the latter as Shadow told him softly. "We'll keep an eye on him. As I said, you'd better watch your back."_

_"It's my front and back I'm worried about." The blue hedgehog admitted._

Even though Shadow wasn't Sonic's number one fan, and given their history together when they first met, the black hedgehog knew that his rival wasn't one to hold a grudge over something like that, especially when the blue hedgehog had seen that the ultimate lifeform had realized his mistakes and vowed to keep his real promise and ultimately joined forces with him. Even when Shadow had struggled to regain his memories, Sonic had been willing to trust him, to be his friend.

"Let us be on our way." Shadow finally spoke up, turning to get the flight. "We still have a lot of work to do."

"Wha?" Knuckles turned around to see his companion walk away. "Hey, wait a minute! We still have to figure this out!"

"Well, standing here talking about isn't going to solve this mystery and restore the Master Emerald, now is it?" The ultimate lifeform snapped, not turning.

"...You have a point." The echidna grumbled, hurrying to catch up to him towards their next destination. While he had his doubts about what Shadow had said, Knuckles hated to admit it, but he did have a point.

But that left on how Sun was created if this theory was true, and how Sonic would react if he learned about this.

* * *

_Sonic had to be dreaming. He was certain of it, because the unusual starry place he found himself him was odd. He had no idea how he got here, or why he was in space, or even if this was space at all. What was also strange was that he was standing like there was a ground beneath him even if there weren't any._

_"Uh...hello?" The blue hedgehog called out. "Tails? Chip? Sun? Anyone?"_

_No answer. Sonic was about to call out again when something lit up in front of him. Confused, he gazed up ahead and saw an orb of green light appear out of nowhere, and he suddenly found himself in a case of deja vu._

_"What is this?" He asked himself, sweat-dropping nervously. Just then, the light began to grow bigger which made him gasp before it lit up so brightly that he had to shield his eyes._

_When it dimmed, Sonic opened them and jumped slightly in fright as floating before him was...well, he wasn't certain what it was, but it was definitely a colossal sized figure glowing in green with glowing green eyes, bulky in appearance and to his horror, it reached out a hand to grab him._

_"Huh!?" The blue hedgehog gasped, and found too late to make a run for it because the massive hand that made him feel like an ant compared was about to clasp him. Finding himself trapped and afraid, Sonic could only brace himself as he screamed when was then held within the giant grasp, locked in a cage of the palm and fingers._

_"HELP! HELP ME!" Sonic screamed, curled up into a ball as he was in an air pocket within the hand. "Someone help!"_

_Just as Sonic thought he was done for, the giant fingers then moved as the colossal figure opened it's hand, allow the hedgehog to rest on the palm which strangely felt like concrete underneath him. Whimpering before sensing movement, Sonic hesitantly opened his eyes and uncurled himself, finding that he was just being stared at by the enormous giant._

_"Huh?" He muttered, looking up and saw that the giant didn't look evil at all, or even threatening. If anything, it looked to be rather...curious maybe? Sitting on the palm and crawling backwards despite that he was stuck, Sonic shook a little. "Who-who are you?"_

_The colossal didn't say anything, but instead it just stared at him and while Sonic gulped nervously, not knowing what to expect, there was something oddly familiar about the giant and...light and gentle and friendly even though it made no sense. But as light surrounded both of them, much to his confusion, there was a sudden glimpse of something much smaller, smaller than the hedgehog, appear in silhouette, and...familiar as well; pixie wings and the necklace were the dead giveaways._

_"...Chip?" Sonic asked, just as the light shone so brightly that he couldn't see..._

* * *

Sonic softly gasped as he awoke from the unusual dream, sitting up straight as he felt a little disorientated before realizing where he was and blinked in confusion. While it wasn't a horrible nightmare like back at Spagonia the previous night, it was still creepy. That colossal giant...who was it? And why did he see the silhouette of Chip?

"Early riser, huh?"

Startled out of his thoughts, Sonic glanced down to see Sun gazing up at him. But what caught Sonic off-guard was that his rival-turned-friend was back to his normal self, Rajah was awake and making monkey noises while playing on the tree branch, and the sunlight he hadn't noticed until now shone on his face, and as he shield his eyes to avoid in going blind, found that it was dawn.

"Morning already?" The blue hedgehog asked, surprised. Then another realization hit him and asked the dark-blue hedgehog. "Why didn't you wake me for the night watch?"

"I wasn't tired, and I knew I couldn't get any sleep. The monkey screeching in his sleep, and all the critters wouldn't let me anyway. You're lucky that you got to sleep before the noise started." Sun shrugged, even though his thoughts about his past also kept him awake all night as well. He had a feeling he was going to regret it later.

Sonic felt a bit guilty about it, and sheepishly scratched his head. "Sorry. I knew I should've gone first on the night watch thing. How 'bout the next time we end up camping during this adventure, I'll do the whole night watch. I'm used to not sleeping at night sometimes anyway."

"I'll take your word for it." Sun smirked.

The blue hedgehog laughed, yawning as he stood up and stretched a bit before jumping down and landed on the ground. Sighing in content, Sonic smiled and suggested. "Well, now that you're not in your Werehog form, let's meet up with Tails and Chip and then finally get outta here. We still have six more Chaos Emeralds and Continents to restore and turning you fully back to normal."

"Finally. I'm getting sick of this jungle anyway." The dark-blue hedgehog sighed, before slapping a hand onto his arm and groaned as he found that something had bit him. "And these mosquitoes are driving me nuts."

"Maybe it's because they find you quite tasty." Sonic couldn't help but tease, as one mosquitoe buzzed around him before flying off. "Which is kinda weird considering how your Werehog self really wanted a taste of me, and yet these guys are ignoring me like I'm just some blue flower."

"I wouldn't be saying that if I were you, Sonic." His rival cautioned, with a hint mixture of teasing and sarcasm. "If I were a giant Werehog, you'd be in my stomach by now."

Sonic was really disturbed by that thought, and nervously rubbed his arms while chuckling nervously. "Uh...heh heh heh...Y-yeah, let's not go there, shall we? I mean, I willingly went inside Chaos's mouth when I had to fight him to get that guy to calm down, but at least he didn't have a stomach. Only down side to that is he was made of water and the negative power of the Chaos Emeralds."

"Uh..." Sun blinked, dumbfounded.

"Long story. I'll explain when we get back."

"...Whatever. Let's go already before I end up turning into a bumpy pin cusion."

Satisfied and then calling out to Rajah that they were leaving, Sonic allowed the monkey to land and ride on his head before he grabbed hold of Sun's hand. Telling them to hang on, the hero of Mobius then sped off down the path back towards the village to meet up with Tails and Chip, and that their adventure would continue.

What they didn't know is that they would find more unexpected surprised awaiting them back in Spagonia.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the delay for this chapter. But thankfully I'm back and hopefully I'll post the next chapter sooner(even if it'll take a long while again. *Shrugs*) than this one was. On top of that, now I wish to begin on one of the versions of Sonic: Colours I have in mind but I've been trying to hold if off as long as possible.**

**See you later!**


	8. Chapter 8: Not Quite a Cheerful Reunion

**Author's Note: Sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but the urge to start on either Sonic and the Power of the Wisps(which is the sequel to this story) or Sailor Moon: Colours(based on the Sonic Colors game like the former with Sonic characters in it) was driving me crazy and the writer's block was hitting me hard. Now that the sequel is finished, I can continue with this.**

**To Guest: I haven't seen the live action movie yet. A friend of mine has and well, neither one of us are impressed by it so I still won't be seeing it. But that's just us, I suppose.**

**The mystery deepens and now we shall continue onward!**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. The franchise belongs to Sega. I only own Sun the Hedgehog and a future OC that will appear at the end of this chapter.**

* * *

_Chapter 8: Not Quite a Cheerful Reunion._

Tails and Chip stood waiting at the entrance to the jungle, bright and early even though they both had a rough night of sleep. While they did manage to, they were both equally worried about Sonic and Sun despite what Mnyambo said last night and their dreams had been far from pleasant. Tails decided to wait before having breakfast, though Chip had something to eat already(considering how he still likes to eat alot) and now was hovering back and forth.

"Can you PLEASE for the love of sanity slow down!?" A familiar, annoyed yet somewhat panicking voice exclaimed from the short distance, which sounded like it was getting closer.

"Slow down? We're almost there, Sun!" Another, much more promising voice laughed, which made the hearts of Tails and Chip leap with hope and relief. True to their hope, the familiar blue blur skid to a complete stop at the entrance expertly, and stood posing proudly.

Sonic smirked as he let go of the rattled and woozy Sun who moaned, looking all dazed and close to passing out. Rajah, having been nearly scared to death by the speed of sound, was all curled up with a comical expression, his fur all sticking up up as though he'd been in an electric socket. The little monkey held onto the blue hedgehog's quills, before the grasp of the situation and that they finally stopped made him squeak a moan before fainting and falling off of Sonic's head and collapsed onto the ground.

"Whoops. Sorry, Rajah." Sonic muttered, having noticed and scratched his head sheepishly. He then rephrased what Sun had said. "Hey, I did warn you guys we were goin' fast."

"SONIC!" Tails and Chip exclaimed happily, racing over and immediately threw themselves into Sonic's chest, hugging him tightly and startling him.

"Hey, whoa!" The blue hedgehog cried out, but laughed all the same and hugged both his little brother and new friend, and while he hid it well with his usual casual attitude, deep down he was overwhelmingly relieved to see that they were safe and sound. "Hey, guys. Sorry we're late."

"We were really worried about you and Sun!" Chip cried out hysterically, bursting into water-works of tears. "I thought those monsters got to you! Or even that Beach-Ball Man!"

Even though Sonic felt bad and winched at Chip's tears, which seeing his friends or anyone with a heart for that matter cry made him cringe, he couldn't help but laugh hysterically at the new nick-name the little pixie gave Eggman.

"HA HA HA! Beach-Ball Man!?" Sonic laughed, which made Tails and Chip gaze at him. "Oh man, that's a good one! Now I can't get the image of him being bounced around by seal out of my head."

While Tails and Chip were surprised by Sonic's reaction, neither one held back giggles of amusement as they too now had the image their hedgehog friend brought up put into their heads, which instantly had him make them feel better already. Sonic's laughter was contagious.

"I guess that Egg-Loser really has a lot of nick-names that are quite amusing." Sun couldn't stop himself from commenting as he had a ghost smirk of amusement as well.

"What happened?" Tails asked once the laughing fest calmed down, and Rajah wakes up after the scare attack.

"Well, um...let's just say that-" Sonic began, only to be gently cut off when he and his friends and rival noticed Rajah running past them and gazed to see that Mnyambo approach and the two are reunited.

"Ah, Rajah. There you are. Along with young Sonic and young Sun, I see. Thank goodness." The elder man spoke in relief.

"Hiya, Mnyambo. Sorry we didn't get back last night." Sonic awkwardly greeted with a wave, a little nervous in how to explain this. "We kinda ran into trouble and got lost, so me and Sun had to camp out in the jungle. Luckily we also ran into Rajah here."

The shaman nodded as he approached the young group with Rajah perched on his shoulder, whispering. "I am aware what has happened last night, young Sonic. A very wise choice to wait until morning."

'_Uh-oh. I forgot that he can see into the past and the future. He must've already figured out what's going on with Sun. If that's the case...guess he couldn't see that Rajah had turned into a monster last night too._' Sonic thought to himself. He didn't want to destroy the hospitality Mnyambo and his people had given him, Tails, Chip and Sun. They had to leave. Right now.

"Um, hey, sorry. M-my friends and I better get going. Got the rest of the world to save and put back together and stuff." The blue hedgehog replied, smiling apologetically and nervously, which earned him confused looks from Tails and Chip, and while Sun looked a bit skeptical, the dark-blue hedgehog suddenly realized what his rival was doing and almost immediately understood.

"I understand." Mnyambo nodded. He knew that Sonic would be this way and the welfare for his friends mattered to him more right now and so on. "When your journey is over, you are all welcome here anytime."

Mentally sighing in relief that they weren't going to get into trouble, Sonic nodded in agreement. "Thanks again, Mnyambo. See you later."

As his friends their thanks to the elder, the group bid farewell to Mnyambo and walked past him to head back to the Tornado 1. Thankfully where Tails parked it was outside of the village at another entrance which was safer compared to the jungle leading to the Temple of Gaia.

'_Phew. That was close._' The blue hedgehog thought with a sweat-drop. '_Wonder if Mnyambo's people will be nice to us the next time we come to visit after we cured Sun and put the world back together?_'

"Hey, Sonic." Tails spoke up, curiously and in a whisper as though he was worried that the people of Mazuri would hear him. "What happened to you and Sun last night?"

"I'll explain when we're in the air. What I can tell ya' is that it involved in fighting a giant monkey that nearly had us for dinner." Sonic answered with a shrug. "You know, Dark Gaia related."

"A giant monkey tried to eat you and Sun!?" Chip exclaimed as he flew up right at the fifteen year old's face, a little too loudly because the blue hedgeghog, Tails and even Sun panicked before Sonic covered the pixie's mouth and looked around quickly, and then made a beeline for the plane, with Tails flying close behind with his twin-tails, and Sun running even though he wasn't up for speed like the two adoptive brothers where.

Eventually they made it a second later, and while waiting for Sun, Sonic let go of Chip who panted and before the latter could ask, the blue hedgehog shushed him, whispering. "Shhh! Keep it down, Chip. Can't have us getting into trouble with Mnyambo's people here. If they figure out what really happened last night other than the over-sized Gorilla-King Kong-Wanna-be, we're as good as toast."

All the little pixie-dog did was shrug apologetically and while he still had no idea what was happening or why his blue friend was worried, instead he couldn't help but ask in confusion. "...Um, who's King Kong?"

Sonic just let an exasperated groan with a sweatdrop, unable to believe that Chip's memories were that far back that he'd never even heard of the famous monster movie. Or maybe it was because the little guy never seen the film before.

He then shook his head and said, "Never mind. Just keep it down, okay?"

"Sorry." Chip whispered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "It's just Tails and I were worried sick about you last night."

"I'm sorry too. My bad." The cobalt teenager replied, sheepishly himself while scratching the side of his face. "The last few days have been so crazy, I'm starting to think life keeps getting crazier and crazier."

"I'm starting to think Eggman's getting more and more crazy." Tails remarked in concern. "Not to mention he's starting to act more like his grandfather Professor Robotnik despite what happened."

"Dude, that's what I thought. I still can't believe Egghead's pulled a stunt like that just so he can rule the world." Sonic folded his arms with concern and disbelief.

Tails then came up with a theory and muttered worriedly. "And if he's after the Gaia Temples, I have a bad feeling that he knows that the Chaos Emeralds can be restored in them and wants to destroy them, or he just wants to spread his Egg-Empire quicker than necessary."

Sonic clutched his fist with a scowl at the very thought, knowing that his best friend had a good point. "Then we'd better get to the other Temples before he does, or else we've lost. That guy just doesn't know when to not touch anything that has disaster written all over them."

"Um...Speaking of lost...did we lose Sun or something?" Chip spoke up awkwardly, instantly reminding the other two Mobians that they were missing someone. Realizing that the little pixie was right, the blue hedgehog and the two-tailed fox glanced around and discovered that there was no sign of the dark-blue hedgehog, and that they had accidentally left him behind.

A powerful feeling of dread, guilt and horror began to sweep up right into the very core of Sonic's heart which plummeted into his stomach. He began to panic and think that maybe this was another trick that he'd fallen into, except that the tribe knew from the beginning and got it into their heads that the blue hedgehog and his companions were dangerous, that they had ultimately decided to finish what Sonic had started and pretended to be nice. He began to see mental images of Sun being tied up and being burnt to stake, Sonic himself, Tails and Chip being tied up and put into prison. Even worse, he could even see Sun turning into a Werehog and attack the village in a rampage.

'_Maybe this is what Mnyambo saw. Or did he plan it to stop Sun from getting worse? That the beast is growing because of me? Oh man...! What'm I gonna do!? I gotta find Sun and get outta here before things get worse!_' Sonic thought to himself, having trouble to stay calm.

"Sun...SUN!" Sonic cried out, and before Tails and Chip could even speak, the teenager quickly sped off back to where they came from to find and save his rival-turned-friend before the tribe could launch an ambush.

Though he didn't have to go far or even worry, because the blue hedgehog almost ran into Sun who, just finally reaching to the plane, cried out in alarm when the blue blur nearly collide into him and the darker-blue hedgehog skid to a stop himself. The two hedgehogs stared at each other, with Sonic looking panicked before the sight of his friend made him very relieved to see that he was safe.

"Hey, watch where you're-AH!" Sun yelped as Sonic unexpectedly pulled him into a tight hug.

"Sun!" The fifteen year old cried out in relief, fighting back the urge to cry in happiness. "Oh man, I'm so sorry for leavin' ya behind! I didn't mean to! You okay?"

"S-Son-ic! Y-you're choking me...!" His rival grunted, struggling to breathe from the cobalt hedgehog's tight grip. The dark-blue hedgehog then sighed in relief when the teenager loosened his grip and his hands on Sun's shoulders.

"Man, I was worried that you'd been caught or something." Sonic sighed, with an apologetic smile. "You are okay, right?"

Sun blinked with a raised eyebrow, both a bit annoyed for being left behind, and surprised that the blue hero had been worried about him and had actually come back over an overreaction. "Aside from nearly being choked to death, I'm fine."

"Phew...What a relief. I just didn't want you or any of us to get into trouble and I briefly forgot that you can't run as fast as I can." The blue hedgehog commented, relieved.

"Yeah, well, I can't fly that fast like your little brother, either. Which I gotta admit, it's more impressive than what I've seen back at Apotos the other day." The stoic hedgehog said, one hand on his hip. "Did he learn it from you?"

Sonic shrugged with a chuckle. "Nah, Tails has always been fast when it comes to flying like that. But he did learn my Spin Dash from watching me a little over a hundred times when we first met. The kid's a fast learner."

"He can Spin Dash too?" Sun blinked, genuinely surprised. At his rival's nod, he couldn't help but form an impressed smirk. "Heh, no wonder you two are close. You're pretty much alike in your own different ways. Might as well be real brothers."

"That's because we are. Well, not blood related, but definitely with our bond. Though it doesn't mean I'm not close to my other friends too..." Sonic paused, before sweatdropping with a sheepish chuckle. "Well, okay, Knuckles and I have a friendly-rivalry and we fight sometimes, and Shadow and I aren't _that_ close either. Considering how we used to be enemies when we first met. Heh, when Eggman released him and used him to steal the Chaos Emeralds before realizing his grandpa intended on using him to destroy the world, the police back at Station Square mistook me for that guy and put me in jail. It took the others to get me out and a long while to sort things out."

The dark-blue hedgehog stared at him blankly in bewilderment upon hearing this. "Annnnnnd you accused me for working for him because of that?"

"...Sort of. Look, I really have no idea what happened back there when you showed up and there's a lot more to Shadow than meets the eye. I'll explain when we get back to Spagonia, 'cause it's one heck of a story. But I can say that Shadow learned his lesson at the last minute and helped me to save the world. Almost died that day too and we all thought he was dead. Turns out he was in a coma and like you and Chip lost his memories for a while." The blue hedgehog replied awkwardly and uncomfortably, rubbing his right arm while looking away slightly to avoid eye contact.

"Sure is pretty tough for an old guy. What is he, a vampire or something?" Sun muttered, even though he was half-thinking about his own amnesia problem again. But to hear that Shadow not only survived but had also regained his memories after losing them, it gave the dark-blue hedgehog some hope that he and the little pixie can too.

"Nope...Well, maybe, except he doesn't drink blood like one." Sonic replied, turning to head back to the plane, taking Sun's hand. "As I said, I'll explain during the trip back. Or at least when we get to Professor Pickle's University. Anyway, hold on tight."

"Ugh, not agaaaaaaaaaiiiiiin!" Sun screamed the last sentence when his rival dragged him straight towards the plane to meet up with Tails and Chip before taking the Tornado 1 back to Spagonia.

By the time they did, their two companions had been waiting for them worriedly to which Sonic apologized to them again, while Sun was groaning over the unexpected run again and feeling a little woozy.

"Are you okay, Sun?" Chip asked, concerned.

"Runs...like a...maniac..." The dark-blue hedgehog groaned, seeing stars circle around his head.

"Oh come on, I wasn't even going that fast." The blue hedgehog pouted with a small smirk. "It wasn't even my full speed. Anyway, let's get going. Gotta find the rest of the Gaia Temples before Eggman does."

"Finally. The sun's heat is killing me." Sun grumbled, fanning himself with his hand, before realizing what he said and groaned. "I wish I can remember what my real name is."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you will. It'll just take a while." Tails reassured, beginning to climb up into the cockpit of his plane. "Same thing with Chip."

"But I wonder I'm remembering a teeny bit faster than Sun, though." Chip couldn't help but state.

Sonic shrugged cluelessly, "Maybe it's to do with your connection with the temples? You said yourself that what I mentioned about you being like a total opposite of Dark Gaia felt familiar."

"Yeah, probably. Still find that hard to believe, though." His fellow hedgehog agreed. "Can we get going? I feel like I'm about to cook here."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, I know that we haven't eaten yet and I don't wanna us get into trouble, but let's get a bite of something to eat when we get back to Spagonia. I'm starving." The blue hedgehog suggested.

"I've got chocolate to help you guys." Chip suddenly hovered over, handing out each bar of said treat to Sonic, Tails and Sun who all blinked in surprise.

"Uh...Heh, thanks, Chip." Sonic rubbed the back of his head awkwardly with a similar smile.

Sun on the other hand, while thankful for a small something to eat despite that it wasn't breakfast, raised an eye-brow as he asked. "Seriously, squirt. Where'd you even keep all this chocolate?"

"Ummmmm...I don't know. Guess I magically store them in my hands somehow and when I think them up, they appear." The pixie shrugged cluelessly, making his three friends stare at him blankly. "Maybe I'm a real magician or something."

"Or even a freed Genie." Sonic half-teased, sounding very impressed.

"Sure is a real wonderful mystery. And there's a whole lot of it right now." Tails remarked thoughtfully.

"Yep, and I got a feelin' we'll be seeing a whole lot more mysteries. I mean, the Temple of Gaia's amazing. I've never seen anything like it." The blue hedgehog agreed as he jumped onto the wing of his best friend's plane, while Sun climbed in, and Chip sitting in front of Tails while the three Mobian that haven't eaten yet began munching on the chocolate.

'_There are heaps of mysteries all right. Like my past for example...and the beast inside me. What could this all mean? How am I that connected to Sonic? It doesn't make any sense._' Sun thought to himself while listening to what Sonic and Tails were talking about, and pretended not to be interested.

Still, the way how his rival had described what Mnyambo told him yesterday, it felt uncomfortably familiar.

* * *

Through out the flight back to Spagonia, the group of four were having a conversation on what happened yesterday. For starters, Tails couldn't help but laugh when Sonic, Chip and Sun told him how they fought and somewhat humilated Eggman just before reaching the Temple of Gaia. Then Sonic finally told his friends on what he told Sun, and the two hedgehogs admitted the reason for their delay which included fighting Rajah in his corrupted form. That sent shock-waves into both the two-tailed fox and the pixie.

The only thing they left out was that the Werehog-side tried to eat Sonic again and that the beast within Sun is connected to the blue hedgehog's guilt, fear and sorrow.

"So the little monkey was the giant one that almost _ate you guys!?_" Chip exclaimed, bewildered with wide eyes and a huge sweat-drop.

"And Sun's got a monster's spirit inside him that's trying to take over?" Tails added, trying to hide the fact that he was a little frightened at the very thought.

"Yep, and yep. Let me tell you, I couldn't believe both cases either. But for starters, that fight freed Rajah from that dark stuff from the giant monster Eggman woke up briefly." Sonic confirmed, then frowned thoughtfully. "Hmm, come to think of it, almost thing's seem to go crazy at night lately, ever since what's happened to Mobius."

"Whaddya' mean?" The two-tailed fox asked.

"Well, those monsters don't come out during the day, and Rajah's situation is kinda like what Sun's going through, like a giant Were-Monkey or something." The blue hedgehog explained, folding his arms in concern.

"So basically I'm not the only one suffering the transformation crisis." Sun guessed with a raised eyebrow, folding his arms as well. "Except in the monkey's case, he turned into a giant, stinkin' gorilla that's more like the Werehog me on a rampage."

"Maybe, except in the monkey's case, he couldn't control it like you can. My guess is that your free will is stronger right about now, though the down-side is...well...the darkness inside me is somehow making it stronger and I gotta figure out how to stop that from happening." Sonic shrugged as he looked over his shoulder.

"It was your voice that got me through that thing, though." The other hedgehog pointed out.

Sonic fell silent in that remark, knowing that it had been such a very close call back in the jungle last night. He looked away as his heart hanged heavily in guilt for what has happened to their home and what the amnesiac Mobian was going through; not just the loss of memories, but in grave danger of losing his free will and soul to the growing monster from within. The blue hedgehog knew that it will take a very long time for him to get over this even after he does save and restore Mobius back to the way it was and cure Sun from his curse. Not only that, he was beyond terrified of the Werehog side of his rival-turned-friend.

"Just wish I knew why we're both connected through Dark Gaia somehow. Ugh, this whole thing is confusing." The fifteen year old hedgehog muttered, groaning in frustration as he placed his hands on top of his head, resisting the urge to pull at his quills. "At this rate, I'm gonna go insane!"

"...Does that mean you're gonna turn into a monster at night too?" Chip asked worriedly, which made Tails sweatdrop.

"What!? No!" Sonic quickly protested, waving his hands in defense. "I don't mean I'm gonna go insane like that! It's just this whole situation is driving me nuts! The only thing that's making me go all crazy is that fact that both Sun and the Werehog's growing soul or whatever are connected with me and that giant planet-sized monster! I mean, if Sun hadn't been there, then yeah, I'd be turning into a Werehog at night instead of him, but Mnyambo told me that the beast won't grow inside my heart for some reason."

"This whole thing is giving me a headache, that's for sure. I blame Eggman for that." Sun grumbled, placing a palm onto his forehead.

"He's always causing trouble. The only time he did help out was when the ARK was about to crash into Mobius, and he saved Shadow's life when everybody thought he died." Tails replied.

Sonic sighed a little sadly, "I wish I could agree, buddy. But let's face it, the only reason he did do those occasions is mainly because if Mobius was destroyed, there'd be no world for him to rule. And he made a bunch of Shadow Android clones from his DNA sample while Shads was in a coma, before waking up and lost his memories for a while. Then Eggman had the nerve to mess with his head to his advantage."

"Good point." His adoptive little brother sighed in sadness.

"How did Shadow lose his memories? What happened to him and how did you guys meet?" Chip asked, curiously.

"That's my question." Sun stated.

The blue hedgehog shrugged, "Well, Shadow wasn't always our friend, but he didn't start out completely heartless either. Fifty years ago, he was very close friends with Egghead's late cousin Maria who, well...was very sick that she couldn't stay on Mobius."

"Wait, what?" Sun blanched, wide-eyed upon hearing this. Chip's eyes went so wide that they were almost as big as his head. "Shadow was..._friends_ with that Egg-loser's cousin?"

"We were shocked when we found out about this too, but Maria seemed like a very nice person even though none of us got a chance to meet her." Tails explained with a nervous sweat-drop.

"That's a secret he doesn't want anybody to know 'cause, well...not long after they met, there was a huge misunderstanding with the military that everybody else thought he was dangerous and wanted him killed. Maria died protecting him and...her and Eggman's grandpa lost it." Sonic continued.

That made the newest hedgehog roll his eyes as he connected the dots. "Okay, let me guess. He wanted revenge over his grandkid's death and attempted to use Shadow to destroy the world, right? Because given what you said to me earlier about Eggman releasing him after being imprisoned somehow, that's when that mess started, right? That he redeemed himself at the last minute, helped you save the world, crash landed somewhere and lost his memories and went into a coma, woke up and you guys teamed up to save the world again by stopping this nasty alien and he got his memories back."

"Close enough." The cobalt hero of Mobius chuckled. "Actually, it was Shadow who defeated Black Doom all by himself with the Chaos Emeralds since that's what the alien wanted. At first, the dude's been chosen to not just cure Maria, but also protect the planet from the evil alien before things got so bad. During that time he wanted to get his memories back, and he did. Right now he's living his own life."

"So you didn't save the world or defeat this Black Doom guy?" Sun asked, surprised.

Sonic shrugged sheepishly, "Can't be a hero every time. Come on, I've started being a hero when I was just eleven years old and I'm fifteen now."

"That long!?" Sun and Chip both exclaimed simultanously.

"Then that means, when you guys met you were only four years old back then, Tails!" Chip realized in shock.

Tails chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Well, I am smarter than an average kid for my age. Doesn't mean I can't be one around my best friends. Especially Sonic."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way." The aforementioned hedgehog added fondly. "The day we both met was the best day of our entire lives."

"Wow! I really wanna hear the whole story of your first adventure together!" Chip said in amazement, which made the two adoptive brothers smile brightly and sheepishly, while Sun just stared at them, or mainly at the eight year old fox, in complete shock.

'_...Well, I guess that explains why he can fly an airplane. This kid is full of surprises._' The dark-blue hedgehog thought. '_Guess Blue here really knows how to make friends with almost everyone._'

"_**...Lone...**_" A very deep and dark voice echoed in his mind, causing Sun to softly gasp, and glanced around for the source as he thought he heard someone talk, but surprisingly not only was the voice unfamiliar, or rather, very familiar but much more darker and...more evil, but Sonic, Tails and Chip didn't seem to hear it.

"_**...Are...him...**_" The deep voice murmured.

Sun shook his head as he squeezed his eyes shut, bonking himself on the side of the head before looking around again. As the dark-blue hedgehog tried to make sense of the mysterious voice, which was making him tensed and very uneasy. Who was it that was speaking to him? And how come he was the only one who can hear it?

'_Must be hearing things. Great, now I'm starting to hallucinate. Can't this week get any worse?_' Sun grumbled in his mind, folding his arms. '_Hmph. I bet that Shadow guy didn't hear any creepy voices in his head...unless he did since Eggman made a bunch of android clones using the old guy's blood which is down-right disgusting._'

The moment he thought that however, another thought came into his mind as the word 'lone' suddenly echoed in his ears. No, not lone...it was...a distortion of...clone, maybe? The more he thought of this and that Shadow's blood was used by Eggman to make android clones of the black hedgehog, the more Sun began to think back of why it sounded familiar. When he wrecked through his brain for an answer, he gasped softly as he remembered what Professor Pickle had said.

* * *

_"What the Gaia Manuscripts also say is that when Dark Gaia begins to awaken, a being born from the body sample of a human or a mobian or an animal of a pure heart along with tears, a great power that is drained and anger and sorrow will appear, both as a creature of darkness, and heart-given new life form with a heart and mind of their own. However, it comes with a price."_

_"What price?" Shadow questioned suspiciously._

_"The darkness of the being must be sacrificed as well as the newly form lifeform itself, should they be good or evil." The human professor explained, which made Sonic and his companions(except Chip who was refilling his tea cup when he realized that it was empty) glance at each other in alarm._

_"That's not cool!" Sonic exclaimed, horrified by the thought. "How is it fair that the guy or girl are born to be like us when he or she have to die?"_

_"Sonic's right! It's not fair." Tails agreed._

_"Maybe there was no helping to that person, even if that said new lifeform happened to be some kind of living copy." Knuckles surmised, concerned._

_"__**A living copy? Yeah right. I'm not buying that.**__" Sun scoffed._

* * *

'_Living copy...could it be...?_' Sun thought as horror and dread began to spread across his body. So much so that he couldn't help but blurt out, "Uh...G-Guys?...Guys!?"

"Sun?" Sonic looked over his shoulder at his rival, quickly alarmed along with Tails and Chip upon hearing the panicked tone in the dark-blue hedgehog's voice, and became more so when they all saw the horror-stricken expression on his face. "Sun, what's wrong!?"

"Y-you remember what that Pickle guy said the other day? About the '_a being born from the body sample of a human or a mobian or an animal of a pure heart along with tears, a great power that is drained and anger and sorrow will appear, both as a creature of darkness, and heart-given new life form with a heart and mind of their own._' stuff, right?" Sun said, a little too quickly, colour slowly fading.

"Yeah...? Why?" The cobalt hedgehog asked, hesitantly as he didn't like where this was going or why his rival-turned-friend was looking all panicked.

"I thought you said you didn't believe it." Chip perked up.

"At first I didn't, and-and I still don't. But...if Sonic, the beast inside me and I are connected with Dark Gaia, and I don't have any memories at all right now...if at all...What if...if..." Sun trailed off, finding himself unable to believe it himself.

"If what?" Tails asked gently, worriedly.

An uncomfortable pause.

"_What-if-I'm-like-whoever-it-was-in-the-past-and-that-I'm-Sonic's-clone!?_" Sun said in a single sentence that made it hard to understand.

"_**WHAT!?**_" Sonic, Tails and Chip exclaimed simultaneously as they somehow managed to understand what their friend was saying, their hearts beating faster now as even the blue hedgehog himself felt colour being drained from his face.

"Think about it. If Shadow's blood's been used to create robot clones by that Dr. Fatso, and what happened the other day with me appearing out of nowhere not making sense, what chances are that I wasn't genetically created from Sonic somehow?" The dark-blue hedgehog continued. "Or maybe I'm an android too?"

"No way! That can't be true!" Sonic protested, shaking his head quickly. "How can that be? The only way that'd happen if a piece of my DNA was taken away from me, like a piece of my quill or a tiny bit of my blood or something! But none of that happened at all! Eggman trapped me to zap away the Chaos Emeralds' power, not create something made from my body mixed up with Dark Gaia's evil magic!"

"Yeah, and Sonic wasn't that injured there either. It shouldn't be possible." Tails agreed.

"Even though you guys look kinda alike, you have different personalities." Chip added.

"...But what if nobody even noticed, or if Eggman intended on creating me to use me as a weapon against you?" Sun pointed out doubtfully.

"Sun, listen to me!" The blue hedgehog told him firmly. "You're not my clone! You're nobody's clone! You're not even a robot! You're you, and I'm me! We're different, and you have your own heart! I don't believe in having a living clone! The closest Eggman's got is making a robot version of me named Metal Sonic, and I'vee beaten that thing three times! The last time was with Tails and Knuckles before Black Doom attacked."

When Sun didn't reply, Sonic sighed in frustration and even though a major part of him was screaming that what his newly-made-friend said did make sense considering the connection they shared, he refused to believe it as the truth. It just wasn't possible!

"Sun, I think you're being paranoid 'cause of the story of Shadow's past and what happened to his memories. Unless Fathead says otherwise, we'll get to the bottom of this and prove that you're a Mobian just like the rest of us. Sure none of us know who you really are, but as of this moment, you're our friend. You're _Sun the Hedgehog!_" He continued.

"...You really think I'm someone different and not you?" His rival asked softly, uncharacteristically scared.

"'Course I do. If you were my clone, you'd not only be the same colour as me, but you'd also have my speed and personality by now. But since you don't and you have strength that matches Knuckles', that just proves that we're _not_ that connected. We'll find the answers to your past, and we'll find a cure. I promise." Sonic smiled warmly with determination.

The dark-blue hedgehog gazed down at the floor of his seat and while he couldn't stop dreading the newly discovered theory that he could very well be his rival's clone, that the mysterious dark voice was telling him that and that, to make things worse the beast inside him came from Sonic as well, the fact that the blue hedgehog believed that they were two separate Mobians with different personalities and skills made him feel a bit better.

"You're not alone in this, pal. You got us to help ya' out." The teenager added with a wink.

"Yeah, we can all help!" Tails agreed.

"I lost my memories too, so we can find the answers to who we are together with our new friends, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and even Shadow!" Chip concluded.

"...Thanks, guys. Guess I am being paranoid." Sun finally smiled a little. "Maybe I was born a grouch and didn't have a good childhood or many friends in my life."

Sonic chuckled, "Well, if that's the case, then you got tons of friends now! Besides, where's the fun in being friends with people if we were all the same, right? I couldn't stand the thought of anybody being exactly like me; same personality and all. I mean, I don't mind having fans and I know that Tails wants to be like me even though he's great being himself, but still..."

"Well, don't forget, I've been your biggest fan before we became best friends and brothers." The aforementioned kit reminded with a giggle, making his adoptive hedgehog brother blush slightly in embarrassment.

"You're right. If everybody's the same, they might as well be Eggman's robots." The dark-blue hedgehog snorted. The others all nodded in agreement as they continued to make their way back to Spagonia.

Still, even though what Sonic said was comforting, deep down none of them could be rid of the feeling of what Sun had said based on the legend in the Manuscripts Professor Pickle told them the other day. At the same time it didn't make any sense at all.

If Sun was Sonic's clone, how was he created from the fifteen year old hedgehog? Not only that, who was the voice that the dark-blue hedgehog was hearing?

* * *

"**Ugh...I hate being a Werehog.**" Sun groaned as he went through another transformation by the time he, Sonic, Chip and Tails arrived back in Spagonia, and in the middle of the night no less. On the other hand, the two hedgehogs were very relieved that this transformation didn't involve in the beast within him attempting to take control again.

The dark clouds moved slowly in the sky, revealing the moonlight that shone upon the town and everyone down below. It was kind of eerie which reminded the young hero of horror movies, and he still hasn't told Chip or Tails about how the Werehog had almost eaten him the night before. He couldn't, not when everything was still at stake.

"I don't think anybody would like being a Werehog, or a Werewolf, or even a Were-anything." Sonic pointed out with a shrug as he and his rival-turned-friend walked and Chip flew. Tails went ahead to fix up the plane before deciding to meet up with them at the University. He then shuddered. "If it had been Eggman, though, that'd be twice as bad."

"If he did turn into a monster at night instead of Sun...would Eggman eat everybody?" Chip asked nervously, quivering at the very thought.

"Blegh...I don't even wanna think about _that_. It's bad enough the guy's a monster the way he is and the things that he does. The whole idea of him being a Werewolf would make him go on a rampage." The blue hedgehog groaned, placing a hand to his stomach as he began to feel nauseous.

"**You're the one who started the thought.**" Sun pointed out rolling his eyes, before adding sarcastically. "**But I think he'd be an Were-EGG instead of a Werewolf.**"

That made Sonic pause in his steps and puffed his cheeks before covering his mouth with his hand as he tried to stop himself from laughing but was failing miserbly. Chip though was always laughing at the thought.

"A Were-Egg? Then he'd be the clumisest monster ever since he's strangely shaped like an Egg!" The little pixie-dog laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah, he'd never go anywhere if he kept wobbling all over the place!" The teenage hedgehog laughed in agreement, unable to stop himself now. "To be honest, I'm still surprised he hasn't tripped over himself whenever he walked or ran considering how fat he is...!"

"**Well, up until you mentioned this Maria girl and his grandpa Gerald Robotnik, I thought he was accidentally brought to life from that nursery rhyme of Humpty Dumpty and was made as his evil twin brother or something.**" The Werehog joked with a smirk.

Sonic laughed harder, "Dude, that's what I thought when I first met him! I even thought he was Humpty Dumpty himself, or more realistically, he'd either lived on eating eggs for all his life to end up looking like one, or an experiment went wrong and he ended up merging with an rotten egg."(1)

"**The eating nothing but eggs part was my second guess.**" Sun scoffed in amusement.

The three of them couldn't stop laughing until they all took a breather to calm down, with the blue hedgehog wiping away a tear before clearing his throat. But as he told his two companions that they should get going, there was a sudden rapid footsteps and the sound of a very familiar voice that made his quills stick up that made him freeze in his tracks, the instincts to make a run for it too late to come.

"Found you, Sonic!" A young girl's voice cried out happily.

The next thing Sonic knew, a twelve year old pink hedgehog girl, Amy Rose, suddenly ran up to him and practically threw her arms around his body and hugged him so tightly that he was unable to escape, having almost knocked him over, and he was greatly surprised, stunned, speechless and more than a little embarrassed.

"**What in the...?**" Sun muttered, dumbfounded at the appearance of a girl that apparently not only knew his rival, but was also hugging him like she was the blue hedgehog's girlfriend. Chip blinked in confusion, wondering what was going on.

"Aw, Sonic, I've been looking for you forever!" Amy almost purred like a cat, nuzzling her head into her 'boyfriend's' chest happily and lovingly as usual, always having been madly in love with him.

"Hey, let me go!" Sonic protested, his face heating up.

But his self-proclaimed girlfriend just giggled, even though she did loosen her grip a little, while declaring proudly. "You're crazy if you think you can get away from Amy Rose and hide, Sonic the Hedgehog! Well, think again, sweetie! It's fate that we are to be together forever!"

That only made the fifteen year old groan in annoyance, dismay and exasperation with a sweatdrop while rolling his eyes and shaking his head, mentally asking why this keeps happening to him. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the pink hedgehog and he really did care about her, she was just too crazily obsessive with him.

"Amy, I'm happy to see you too, but can you let go, please? You're crushing me here." Sonic somewhat pleaded, trying to gently push her away within arms length. Thankfully she loosened her grip enough for him to do that and carefully had his hands on her shoulders. "What're you doing here anyway? Other than trying to find me, of course."

"I'm here visiting and checking out all the stores and restaurants here since Spagonia's one of the world's famous places for all the delicious food and beautiful clothes." Amy explained with a beaming smile, her beautiful soft green eyes twinkling like stars as she gazed at his emerald ones. You could even see stars and flowers bloom in the background all around her as she clasped her hands together. "It's such a coincidence to find you here, especially since I heard that you, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow arrived yesterday, but then you vanished."

"Who's she?" Chip whispered to Sun who gazed at him skeptically.

"**How should I know? It's obvious that Sonic knows her.**" The Werehog whispered back with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm...She seems to really like him." The little pixie remarked.

Sun scoffed again. "**Like is an understatement.**"

"Yeah, well, I'm busy right now. Trying to save the world from you-know-who again and other crazy stuff that's happening. If you're gonna ask me for a date tonight, you're gonna have to make a rain check on that, Ames." Sonic apologetically replied, scratching the top of his head.

That made the pink hedgehog's smile fade in concern and no sheer amount of anger as she knew who would her boyfriend was talking about. "Eggman wouldn't have anything to do with that huge Earthquake and rumors that the world's been split apart the other day, would it?"

The blue hedgehog felt his heart sink as he quickly realized that Amy had no idea, while not on purpose, he was also responsible for the world's current situation. He haven't even thought of how everybody would react with how he messed up big time. Tails had been somewhat okay with it, shocked but forgiving. Knuckles had been angry at first, but then realized how much it effected Sonic. But...how would many others react? He, Sun, Chip and Tails had a close call at Mazuri and the villagers seemed to be okay with the fact that Sun turns into a Werehog had night thanks to Mnyambo...

But if Amy were to find out...Sonic knew how scary she was whenever she was mad, so much so that even Eggman was terrified of her. The very thought of her reaction about how badly he made things worse scared him.

"Yeah, unfortunately." Sonic replied after half a moment of silence. "Good news though, my new friends and I already put one piece of the world back together with help of the Chaos Emeralds."

"Really?" She blinked, before glancing over her shoulder and gasped in surprise to see an unfamiliar...well, a cute looking flying pooch and a bulky-looking and a bit scary but seemingly harmless hedgehog behind him. "Oh, are they your friends?"

"Yep. This is Chip and Sun the Hedgehog." Sonic introduced. "I'm also helping them to get their memories back since they lost them."

Amy now felt embarrassed for not noticing the duo, with Chip waving friendily and Sun just shrugging with an uninterested look. She moved back a bit from Sonic and gasped, her hands flying over her mouth slightly. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. I didn't even see you guys. That was very rude of me. I'm Amy Rose."

She bowed slightly in apology and embarrassment.

"Nice to meet you, Amy. And it's okay, there's no harm done." Chip replied.

"**Hi.**" Sun simply replied.

"Nice to meet you too, and I'm really sorry." Amy said, blushing slightly, before blinking in surprise when Chip hovered over and held out a bar of chocolate.

"Want some chocolate?" He offered, which made Sonic shake his head with a shrug and an embarrassed smile, and Sun to roll his eyes.

"That's very sweet of you. Thank you." The pink hedgehog answered, carefully taking the bar from Sonic's new friend, to which she said to the blue hedgehog. "If you see Eggman again, either let me know so I can smash him with my Hammer, or give him a good pounding for me."

The teenager smirked with a thumbs up. "Don't worry. Leave Egghead to me!"

Amy beamed happily and cheered. "Yay! You go, Sonic! See you later!"

She went up to him and much to his embarrassment, gave him a slightly longer quick kiss on the cheek before waving a goodbye to the group and then walked off. But as she turned her back on them, Sonic reached out to her as though he wanted to say something else, but stopped himself and frowned in sadness, lowering his arm in renewed guilt.

'_Oh, Amy...how'm I gonna tell you that I ended up being tricked and this whole thing is my fault?_' He thought to himself hopelessly. '_What if she gets so mad at me that...that she would stop loving me? Or even stop being my friend?_'

The very thought of his self-proclaimed girlfriend being so furious with him due to not being able to prevent Eggman from splitting the world apart, or that Sonic himself was also part of it due to falling right into the evil scientist's trap, the Chaos Emeralds losing their powers and everything that's happened which could cause her to break all ties with him to not even wanting be friends with him ever again...It broke his heart. He didn't want to lose any of his friends...

But it seemed that fear was going to be made a reality.

"Amy...I'm so sorry. It's all my fault..." Sonic whispered to himself so softly that it was barely even heard.

"Wow, she seems really nice. I like her." Chip spoke up, not noticing the cobalt teenager's current dilemma.

"**Yeah, really nice, but really weird too.**" Sun pointed out, then gazed at his rival and asked. "**Is she your girlfriend or something?**"

That made Sonic flinch and spun around, denying even though he was blushing in pink on his cheeks. "She's not my girlfriend! She's a girl and she's a friend, but she's not my girlfriend! I can't help it that Amy's madly in love with me so much that she wants to marry me, which I'm not even considering of doing."

Unfortunately, the Werehog saw the blush and taunted amusingly. "**If she's not your girlfriend, then why is your face all pink? What, are you secretly in love with her but you just don't want to admit it?**"

"Zip it!" Sonic grunted and turned away, folding his arms. "Look, I really care about her, and I hate hurting her feelings, but no matter how many times I say no to marriage, she just keeps coming after me. She's crazily head over heels. Not to mention really scary whenever she gets mad."

"Really? How scary can she be?" Chip asked curiously, and a little nervously.

"Well, let's just say that if you get on her bad side hard enough, Ame's will clobber you so hard she that could turn you into half a pancake with that Hammer of hers. She might not look it, but she's strong when she puts her mind into it. Heh, even Eggman's scared of her sometimes." The blue hedgehog explained, smiling a little scaredly.

"**I can't believe anybody would be scared of a little girl like her, and that she's not scared of me, for crying out loud.**" Sun stated while shaking his head. "**You're in such a weird relationship, hedgehog. Why does she keep going after you if you don't want to marry her? Why keep her around as a friend?**"

"Because I don't want to lose any of my friends." Sonic answered, before sighing as the thoughts of what she would think of him if she found out what he had done, and began walking away, crestfallen. "But I'll end up losing her anyway if or when she finds out how much I messed up. She'll never forgive me over this."

"Sonic? Hey, wait, Sonic! I'm sure Amy will forgive you! You're her 'boyfriend', right? Come on cheer up!" Chip cried out as he flew over in a futile attempts to make the guilt-ridden hedgehog feel better, leaving Sun behind as he watched his rival leave.

The Werehog blinked, his expression softening and while he had a feeling that Sonic's feelings for Amy Rose was more than what he was letting on but just wasn't ready to admit it even to himself, the fact that the blue hedgehog didn't want to lose any of his friends made him think that the hero of Mobius cared so much that his cool attitude was just a mask of how much he was such a compassionate guy. He then thought back on what Sonic told him last night in the jungle.

_"I love all of my friends, and I never break my promises to anybody. That includes you, Sun."_

"**...This is getting more and more confusing. Just hope I don't have a girlfriend who's crazy like that Amy girl. Still...**" The Werehog shook his head, before smiling a little softly. "**It's not bad at all. I can see why he has a lot of friends.**"

Deciding that he will give Sonic a chance, especially since how they went from being heated rivals on the day they first met and Sun himself wanting nothing more than to, at least as a Werehog, eat the blue hedgehog to being friendly rivals and slowly becoming friends themselves, he nodded to himself and now hoped that Amy would forgive her 'boyfriend' over this, also realizing that, much to his embarrassment, he should apologize as well.

With that in mind, he hurried as fast as he could to catch up to Sonic and Chip, the latter still trying to make the blue hedgehog feel better.

Unaware to them, a menacing figure was peering around the corner of a building behind where Sonic and his friends were, hiding in the shadows and if one could see more clearly, it a male Mobian about the height of a tall man. He appeared to be a muscular Cheetah that was spotless, wearing a cowboy hat with a red large feather that had seen better days, a cowboy silver cloak with a badge-pin shaped like a cow's skull, a white buttoned t-shirt with a black leather vest over it, light-brown leather pants and dark boots with deadly looking spikes, with black leather gloves.

As he had been spying on the group and having listened to some of the conversation, the Cheetah gave an evil, sharp toothed grin as he had his gleaming golden eyes on the Werehog's retreating form.

"Yes...At long last. I've finally found the truth of a pure myth, and with that brat of a hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. Along with a little unusual pixie-animal no less. Soon both of those mystical lifeforms will be mine." He chuckled evilly at himself.

What he had to do now was to make a perfect plan, and he already had one in mind.

* * *

**A/N: I am so sorry for the delay of this chapter and the lack of action. I had been stuck on how it would turn out as well as focusing on Sonic and the Power of the Wisps. But now things are becoming more bleak for Sonic and his friends. The identity of the mysterious stalker will be revealed in the next chapter.**

**(1): Reference to the Sonic the Comic Origins book that revealed how that incarnation of Eggman ended up evil, but it's not fully canon to the games, anime or even my stories. As far as I know with the games part, anyway.**

**See you later!**


	9. Chapter 9: Beware of the Myth Hunter

**Author's Note: So the last chapter wasn't all that great, sorry about that. Hopefully this one will make it up for it.**

**To Guest: I...haven't realized it. I've been trying to have Sonic in my stories a mixture of his mainline game incarnation as well as his incarnation from the Sonic X anime. I think I'll pass on the movie, though. Sorry if the characters are OC-like. **

**Plus the reason why Sonic has a bit more fears now is due to the situation happening in this story and how it effects him in the sequel that I finished.**

**That said and done, let's continue on!**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. The franchise belongs to Sega. I only own Sun the Hedgehog and an OC that will make a full appearance either in this chapter or the next one.**

* * *

_Chapter 9: Beware of the Myth Hunter._

Sonic was still feeling down as he and his friends continued making their way back towards the University for an update of the situation and where the next Temple is. But at the moment all he could think about was how Amy would react and despite Chip's attempts to cheer him up, the blue hedgehog knew that his new friends didn't know her as much as he did. Normally the pink hedgehog getting mad at him wouldn't be this much of a problem.

But now...now he was afraid that if she found out what he had done, no matter how much he tried to let Mnyambo's comforting words and even Sun's make him believe that it wasn't his fault, that was the end of their friendship. He never thought it would effect him this badly. Plus it wasn't like he was in love with her or anything. He loved her like he loved everybody else because they were all his friends.

Realizing all of the sudden what he was thinking and how he was feeling right now, the young hero shook his head with his eyes shut, chastising himself. '_This is ridiculous. I shouldn't be worried as much. As long as you keep silent about this, then it should be fine, right? C'mon, Sonic. Get a grip of yourself!_'

"Sonic?" Chip's voice interrupted the teenager's thoughts, causing the blue hedgehog to glance up to him, realizing that he'd stopped walking as the pixie and Sun, who made Sonic's quills tense and stand up just how close he was in his Werehog form, but the young hero forced himself to remain calm, were both by his sides.

"Yeah?" Sonic replied, a bit snappy and cold when he hadn't meant to. Hearing his own voice, he sighed in guilt and looked away. "Sorry. Didn't mean to sound harsh."

"You weren't being harsh. You were just...well, um...Grumpy, I guess?" Chip replied awkwardly, perking up again almost instantly as he added. "But hey, it'll be okay! I'm sure Amy will forgive you like Tails and everybody else have."

"I wish I could agree with you, buddy. I really do. But, none of you guys know Amy as much as I do. I mean, yeah Eggman's gone way too far this time, since he's one for getting what he wants by causing as much destruction to the enviroment as he can if people don't surrender and obey him, despite that he had no intentions on destroying the world, let alone breaking it up into pieces." The blue hedgehog sadly explained, scratching his head.

"**Then what's the problem? Wait, are you worried that she'll be furious at you just because you tried to stop Dr. Fatso?**" Sun asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Y-yeah...Well, first she won't let me explain because everytime I make her upset, or miss out on our 'dates', she gets mad at me and when I say something stupid that even slightly offends her when I don't mean to, she chases me with that Hammer and believe me, it hurts a lot. Amy may be a little girl, but like I said, she's strong." The fifteen year old admitted, and having air-quoted the word 'dates'.

He then chuckled a little scaredly, "I remember one time that about a month before Eggman found Chaos, he tried to build the world's deadliest and scariest theme park called Eggman's Scream Park over near the beach at Station Square, and when I stopped him with the help from her and Tails and Knuckles and defeated that Octopus Robot, his other construction robots formed into a giant Serphant one to try and get rid of me."

"What does that have to do with...Amy?" Chip asked, hesitantly.

Sonic shrugged with a nervous smile over the memory. "Well, she made me this Sea-Shell bracelet for good luck, but it got mostly smashed by the second giant robot and...she got so mad that she beaten that thing and knocked away Eggman all by herself."

* * *

_**Flash-Back: One month before the events of "Sonic Adventure"...**_

_"Man, just when things couldn't get anymore annoying!" Knuckles growled, having been brought here to the sea-side for a 'relaxation' by Tails and Amy, while Sonic had been taking a stroll until Robotnik's latest attack brought the blue hedgehog here._

_The group had just defeated the first large robot Octoron which had captured Sonic and nearly drowned him had it not been for Amy smashing the rubber tentacle with her Hammer and freed him. But now they were facing another one merged from Robotnik's construction robots, Serpentor._

_"We can take this thing on!" Sonic reassured confidently with a wide smirk. "Just because it's different, in the end it's still nothing but a giant piece of scrap that moves."_

_"You say that now, Sonic, but my Quizon have merged to form Serpentor and it's ready to strike!" Robotnik declared as he hovered next to his latest creation in his Egg Mobile. "Isn't it impressive?"_

_"Well, that thing is pretty tall, but I bet in a battle it comes up short." The blue hedgehog retorted smugly, but what he, Knuckles and even Tails who was worriedly hovering in the Tornado Biplane and trying to get into the right position to help without hurting his friends, and even ___Robotnik_ didn't know was that Amy was looking at the ground with a look of dismay and heart-break._

_Because the Serpentor, during it's merging, had just crushed the beautiful pink sea-shell bracelet she made for her 'boyfriend' for good luck. She had gotten idea from a nice human woman who explained to her about the legend of sea-shell bracelets that would protect people from drowning. The pink hedgehog had thought that it would both help Sonic and to have him really love her._

_But now...now both chances were gone in an instant._

_"Yeah, it's nothing but a slow, giant mechanical worm if you ask me." Knuckles added, his arms folded._

_"You'll need more than speed to survive this robot, you brat!" The evil scientist grunted evilly at the blue hedgehog, ignoring what the red echidna had said._

_"Really?" Sonic challenged, and, knowing that he had to distract this thing and keep it away from Amy, began taunting the giant robot, clapping his hands to get it's attention. "Yo, Fang Face! Let's see how quickly you can slither!"_

_As the teenage hedgehog leaped away to get the robot to follow him, Knuckles was about to follow and decided to attack it from behind, so he waited for his chance. But as everyone's attentions were turned away from Amy, she bend down onto her knees and gently scooped up her ruined gift in tears. She supposed that her charm...wasn't so lucky. She then began to cry over the loss...and then her sorrow quickly turned into pure anger as she clenched the pieces in her hands, glaring up furiously at both ___Robotnik_ and his robot's direction._

_"That Robotnik...! That giant robot...!" She hissed angrily, as fire burned in her eyes._

_"Alright, Serpentor, you know what to do. Put a squeeze on Sonic and then toss him out to sea!" ___Robotnik_ commanded._

_"I'd like to _sea_ it try, Ro-butt-nik!" Sonic taunted with a joke. "Come on, do you really think any of your robots can get rid of me? I can break it apart with my eyes closed."_

_Before ___Robotnik_ could make a response, or anyone else could do anything at that moment, Amy stood up with a livid yell as she brought out her hammer, shockingly almost as big as her now, holding it up over her head. "NOW YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"_

_"Huh?" ___Robotnik_, Sonic, and Knuckles all turned to her direction and suddenly their eyes widened as the livid pink hedgehog charged straight towards Serpentor from behind._

_"AHH!" Knuckles screamed and jumped out of the way in fear at just how scary Amy looked, while she ignored him and smashed the giant robot's tail flat and crippled. He sweat-dropped at this sight, and could only mutter. "What? What the?"_

_"DON'T MESS WITH ME!" Amy continued as she stood on the rest of the tail, glaring up at the robot that ruined all of her hard work. Sonic sweat-dropped himself as he saw just how angry she was, and just stood there nervously._

_'_Whoa...she's really mad now._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, too scared to even say anything._

_"Oh my..." Even ___Robotnik_ was looking scared, frozen in his hovercraft and having no idea what had gotten her so mad, and not realizing that it was all his fault._

_"TAKE THIS!" The furious pink hedgehog went up closer to the main body of Serpentor and swung her Hammer which knocked away one metal attachment piece of it, and swung it again. "AND THAT!"_

_She repeated the process in her rage, and the giant robot stood no chance, because the more pieces it lost, the more it began lower and lower with the whacked apart pieces flying everywhere. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails who was witnessing this in mid-air and sweat-dropped, and Eggman continued to watch this event in fear over one little girl's super-human strength of fury._

_"M-man! I've never s-seen her this mad before!" Tails muttered to himself, shakily._

_"...She's scary." Knuckles muttered to himself, stepping back a little in fear of facing Amy's wrath by accident._

_"...Okay. Now I'm scared." Sonic whispered to himself, wisely staying in one place until his self-proclaimed girlfriend calmed down. He was both impressed by her unbelievable strength, and terrified of her pure anger. The blue hedgehog would hate to think what would happen if the Chaos Emeralds were in her possession._

_As for the resident evil man who had been the cause of the pink hedgehog's fury, he was quivering in fear, afraid of what would happen to him if he stayed around any longer. _

_He then shakily told himself wisely, leaning back a little, "Oh no...Perhaps I'd better...go."_

_"HAAAAA!" Amy roared as she smashed the head to the bottom, hitting on top of it and then furiously stomped on top of the head, roaring even louder before it sprung it's broken springs, catapulting her up into the air. But she used this to her advantage because it lead her straight towards Eggman, her Hammer ready to strike him next._

_"C-can't we talk about thi-AAAAH!" ___Robotnik_ screamed when Amy smashed her Hammer right at the front of his Mobile, sending him calling into the ocean as he landed in a splash._

_"Even though he deserved that, but what's her problem?" Knuckles remarked, bewildered._

_The evil madman meanwhile resurfaced in his Egg Mobile that repositoned itself, and he spat and coughed out water, simply floating. But as Eggman looked up, his eyes widened in pure horror when he saw Amy descending straight towards him in, not as fast speed as Sonic, but pretty close and you could pratically see the aura of fury glow on her body as she prepared one final strike with a last yell of anger. It was then that ___Robotnik_ knew that he was in for another painful and humiliating defeat._

_"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!_" He let out a panicked scream, just before she hit him so hard that there was a huge splash that shot up from the ocean and into the air. ___Robotnik_ was then sent flying high into the sky and vanished from sight in a blink._

_Amy in the meantime was also sent flying due to her own strength having knocked her out and was in the danger of falling into the ocean and drowning. Sonic, seeing this, gasped in horror and worry and knew that he had to save her fast._

_"AMY!" The blue hedgehog screamed and while he knew that there was a 100% chance that he'd end up under water again himself and the risk of drowning, he took the risk anyway and raced up to the edge of the concrete platform in a desperate attempt to rescue the pink hedgehog._

_So he unknowingly jumped on top of Knuckles, using the echidna's head to jump higher than he would without his friend's help, and Sonic leaped into the air as fast and high as he could._

_"OW!" Knuckles grunted, unexpectedly stomped and shoved onto the ground face first._

_Sonic held out his hands and successfully caught her before both began to fall with Amy held tightly to his chest. He cried out in alarm as they both descended closer to the water, but as luck would have it, Tails came swooping in just underneath them and the blue hedgehog repositoned himself and landed in a crouch on one of the plane's wings._

_"Thanks, Tails!" The blue hedgehog told his best friend/little brother who nodded, before the teenager turned his attention back to the unconscious twelve year old hedgehog in his arms, gently shaking her to see if she was alright. "Amy? Amy, are you okay? Amy!"_

_To the duo's relief, Amy gave a soft moan, blinking her eyes open and the first thing she saw was a worried but soon relieved Sonic, making her slowly realize that she was in his arms._

_"S-Sonic?" She tiredly asked, and he sighed in relief._

_"Phew...It's okay. You're safe now." He reassured with a smile. Sonic made sure that Amy wouldn't be falling off and held onto her until Tails gently landed the plane onto the ruined platform where both the expensive Hotel and ___Robotnik_'s very short-lived Scream Park were left in ruins. The blue hedgehog hopped off the plane and gently set his friend down as she began to full awaken._

_"W-what happened? I feel a little dizzy." Amy asked, holding a hand to her forehead, her broken bracelet in the other and felt disorient at first, before softly gasping as she then remembered almost instantly. "Where's ___Robotnik_?"_

_"You sent him flying just before you passed out." Sonic answered, adding with a nervous sweat-drop. "Boy, you smashed that robot like it was made out of toy building blocks, and hit Eggman so hard that he might've been sent into space, Ames."_

_Hearing this made her realize what she'd done and while she was relieved that ___Robotnik_ was dealt with until whatever else he can come up with, Amy blushed in embarrassment over her actions. "I...might have over done it."_

_The cobalt hedgehog laughed a little scaredly. "Yeah...but hey, what you did saved the day. You're a hero."_

_"Really?" That seemed to perk her up in surprise, making her heart leap._

_"Yep! You saved me with the help of Tails from that Octoron robot that could've made me drown, and you smashed that Serpentor before it even had a chance to attack." Sonic praised with a wink._

_Amy's eyes lit up excitedly and happily to have actually impressed Sonic..._

_"But don't think this is gonna make me wanna marry you!" He quickly added firmly, only to flinch when she then glared at him in pure annoyance at being turned again instantly before she even got the chance. _

_Quickly thinking of a solution, he suggested with a sheepish grin. "But to make it up for it, how 'bout I fix that bracelet for ya'? Can't have all of your hard work go to waste, ya'know?"_

_"The bracelet!" The pink hedgehog gasped, suddenly remembering the main reason why she'd been so furious in the first place. She gazed at the broken charm in her hand, her heart breaking at it's ruined state. "Oh...It's ruined. I made it just for you and now it's broken..."_

_Amy began to cry which made Tails worried, and Sonic panic slightly._

_"H-hey, Amy! Don't worry, it's gonna be fine! Really!" He waved his hands quickly, sighing as he gently laid a hand onto his shoulder a soft smile, making her look up at him tearfully, which ached his own heart a little. "C'mon, Ames. Don't cry. Like I said, I'll fix it as best as I can, okay? I promise."_

_Even though the pink hedgehog had a little bit of doubt, to hear this from him made her feel a little better as she softly smiled, tears still falling. "I guess you had good luck even without this."_

_Sonic laughed lightly, "You may be a little crazy at times, but I couldn't ask for better friends than you, Tails, or even Knuckles and anybody else. Besides, it's the thought that counts. I really owe you three times today, and not for marriage."_

_"Oh, Sonic..." Amy sighed, vaguely annoyed that he still turned her down over the proposal, but decided to let it slide just this one, and said. "Well, since you owe me three, here's the list: First, you take me out on a date tonight."_

_"Alright." The blue hedgehog sighed with a groaned. He should've seen this coming. But he did promise, so he would just have to put up with it._

_"Second, you come with me and Cream to see the new Legend of Phoenix movie next week. You can bring Tails along, too." She added._

_"Consider it done. I've been wanting to see that movie for a while anyway." He replied. That he can cope with, and it sounded more fun than a date anyway._

_"Thirdly..." Amy paused, before smiling and shook her head. "Actually, that's all you need to do for me, since you already made up for one of them."_

_"Huh?" Sonic blinked, confused._

_The pink hedgehog blushed cutely, answering his unasked question. "You saved me from drowning, or how else was I in your arms on the plane?"_

_Realizing that she was right, he shrugged. "Hey, you know I'd still do that even if you hadn't done what you did today. Same goes for everybody else."_

_"Ahem." Knuckles' voice suddenly interrupted, causing both hedgehogs and even Tails, who was the first to notice the the echidna's sudden annoyed look, to glance at their red companion who gave Sonic a heated glare, with a crossed band-aid on where the blue hedgehog had stomped onto him. "Sonic...!"_

_"What?" The fifteen year old asked, confused, having no idea why his friendly rival looked so mad at him._

_"What'd you go and use me as a catapult for!?" Knuckles yelled furiously. "You couldn't have used your homing attack or something!?"_

_"I don't remember that, but now that you mention it...sorry. I had to save Amy." Sonic sheepishly replied, scratching the back of his head as he realized that he had unexpectedly used the red echidna to launch himself into the air._

_"Well, don't use me as a ladder!" His friend shouted._

_"It was an accident!" Sonic pointed out, quickly getting annoyed. "Not my fault that ___Ro-butt-nik_ ruined a perfectly good day, which is nothing new with that guy!"_

_"If you hadn't have a problem with swimming, you wouldn't have to have leaped into the air!" Knuckles grunted._

_"What, so I'm supposed to let Amy drown, huh? That's the worst response I ever heard from you, Knucklehead!" The blue hedgehog growled angrily. "Besides, I can't help it that I sink like a rock and water always freaks me out!"_

_"That's not what I meant and I can't help it that you're scared of water!"_

_"I ALMOST DROWNED TODAY!"_

_"_**ENOUGH!**_" Amy screamed loudly, ending the argument instantly as she had enough of their bickering. Her yell echoed through out the area and made the boys including Tails glance at her, their eyes widening in fear for the second time when they saw her angry expression._

_"You, calm down!" The pink hedgehog continued to Sonic who gulped nervously with a scared sweat-drop. She then turned her attention to Knuckles and gave him a death glare, "And YOU! You should be ashamed with yourself! Think clearly before you speak, or else I'll get my Piko Piko Hammer out and knock your head clear!"_

_"Y-yes, ma'am!" Sonic replied first, standing in attention as he was afraid of her knocking him with the aforementioned Hammer._

_"Uh...U-understood, m-ma'am...!" Knuckles replied next, slowly and wisely backing away._

_After that, Amy made them apologize while Tails watched on nervously before the day went out and after a few hours, things calmed down for life to be peaceful for the time being._

* * *

_**Back in the Present...**_

"**...You gotta be making that up.**" Sun responded skeptically after Sonic finished telling that story.

"Nope. It's all true. You really don't want to get on her bad side." The blue hedgehog shook his head, adding with a slight blush as he scratched the side of his face. "I still have the bracelet which I sort of managed to fix. Not that I wanna go anywhere near water anytime soon, but I got a feelin' it's gonna happen sooner than I expect it."

"Man...from what you said she does sound really scary." Chip remarked, shivering a little.

"Believe me, Chip. Sure she's sweet, but she's scary when she's livid, and crazy when it comes to her obsession over me." Sonic replied, then added. "Still...the bracelet was one of the nicest things anyone's ever given to me. Sure, I wanna be free and enjoy my freedom and going on adventures, hanging out with friends is really cool too."

"**Sounds to me Amy gets rescued by you all the time.**" The Werehog stated, adding with a smirk. "**Lucky for her if she needs to be saved tonight, her boyfriend's here.**"

"I'm not-!" The blue hedgehog began, irritated as he glared at Sun, and softly gasped when he saw a trace of the beast within that, while not as noticable behind the soul of his rival-turned-friend, it was still there, staring at him with vague hungry eyes at his very soul, itching to eat him. So he softened his glare a little but tried not to show his fear and tried again. "I'm not her boyfriend!"

"**Well, it's like you said. You are a boy and you are her friend. Am I right?**" Sun pointed out teasingly. Deep down, though, he couldn't help but notice how his rival had softened his glare, and then mentally widened his eyes as he realized that, somehow Sonic saw the beast, and that he himself could feel it threatening to emerge again.

'_**Great, it's like whatever guilt he feels, the beast inside me...is continuing to grow. There's got to be a way to get rid of it...somehow.**_' He thought to himself. Sun then attempted to shake away those thoughts and focus on what was happening right now.

Sonic looked away awkwardly, unable to come up with a response or a retort. Finally, he decided to change the subject and focus on the more important issues. "Ugh. Come on. Let's just get to Tails and Professor Pickle. We still gotta find the other Temples."

"So...are you gonna tell Amy about what happened? She might find out one way or another, you know." Chip inquried as they began walking(flying in his case) again.

"I guess...But what if she never want to speak to me again? Losing my friends...is like...like losing a part of myself. You can replace a lot of things. But you can't replace the people in your lives; especially family and friends." The blue hedgehog replied uneasily. "All my friends, my family, our entire home...they should never be taken for granted."

Sonic glanced at both of his companions with a sad smile, adding. "That now includes both of you, guys. If anything happened to either of you or anybody else, I'd never forgive myself. As for Mobius...even if everybody does survive if the world is destroyed, or taken over by Eggman, there is no home. Nowhere to go to. It'd be like a giant iron ball prison. That's why I fight him, to protect everyone, our freedom, and the entire planet itself, and because it's the right thing to do. Let's face it, we're all born here and live with the lives that we're given and protect what really matters."

Both Chip and Sun stared at Sonic in awe for his words of wisdom, almost as though he'd undergone an astonishing transformation, from a cheerful, optimistic, carefree and daredevil hedgehog to a mature hero and sage of sorts.

"**I think you're starting to scare me here. How the heck can you be so many at once? First you're like a kid, then you're like a teenager, and now you're acting like an adult.**" The Werehog blinked.

"What?" The cobalt hero shrugged, smirking. "Can't a guy be all three at once? Besides, experience has taught me a lot of things over the years. Who says you can't learn and have fun at the same time?"

"Wow, I wish I was like that." The pixie muttered, hovering around Sonic who chuckled, and Sun just rolled his eyes while shaking his head in exasperation over Chip's excitement.

"Hey, tell ya' what. After we put world back together, cure Sun and get both your memories back, why don't the three of us and Tails go on another adventure? I'll give ya's a tour around Green Hill Zone on South Island." Sonic suggested.

But before either of his new friends could give a reply, the blue hedgehog's ears picked up a sudden ominous and dreaded sound of something cocking and he froze in his tracks, his heart skipping a beat. Apparently he wasn't the only one because Sun stood still and narrowed his eyes and glanced around the area carefully, which made Chip stop and gaze at the two in confusion. He was about to ask what was wrong when the Werehog shushed him, telling him to keep it down. Both he and the blue hedgehog glanced around with their eyes, trying to listen for the sound. Sonic then looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened in shock and horror to see it before the gunshot was fired.

Right at Sun.

"Look out!" Sonic exclaimed, shoving the Werehog to the ground and narrowly avoided in getting hit himself as a gunfire flew right past them and hit a barrel which made water began to leak out. Chip screamed and flew over quickly to the two and hid behind the blue hedgehog who pushed himself up. "Sun, are you alright?"

"**Yeah.**" Sun sighed, stunned that his rival had just risked his life to save his, but quickly hid it even though seeing the expression on the blue hedgehog's face told him that he caught on but said nothing on the matter. The Werehog instead turned his attention to where the gunshot came from and grunted angrily.

"**Alright, who tried to shot us?**" He demanded.

The reply he got was a dark chuckle from somewhere in the shadows on the path where the trio had come from, before it was followed by a voice. "So, the Werewolf can speak like a normal living being. This makes things more interesting."

"Show yourself, whoever you are!" Sonic demanded. As if he didn't have enough problems already, now he had to deal with the potential threat of a stalker or a hunter who clearly is out to get Sun. What for other than to kill him due to his appearance as a Werehog, the teenager didn't know yet, but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

"If that is what you wish." The voice sneered, as it's owner emerged from the shadows. Unknown to the trio, it was the same Cheetah that spied on them as he smirked evilly at the group. But now that he was under the full moonlight, it was clear that not only he had no spots like normal Mobian-Cheetahs and average Cheetahs found in the wild and/or the zoos, his fur was coloured grey, silver even, and he was holding a rifle in his right hand.

"Sonic the Hedgehog. So, finally we meet." The Cheetah greeted darkly.

The blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes as he instantly felt bad vibes from this unfamiliar Mobian, who looked close to be in his late thirties, maybe even early forties. "Who are you, and how did you know my name?"

The Cheetah grinned, which gave Chip, Sonic and even Sun the creeps. "They call me, the Myth Hunter. My real name is Kaiser Bakuvu. Whichever you prefer, it worries me not, little hedgehog."

"...The Myth...Hunter...!?" Sonic's eyes widened in sheer shock as he heard this. His heart stopping for a split second. '_No way...!_' He thought in horror, instantly knowing what was about to happen.

"As for how I know you, you must be ignorant with your popularity, boy. Almost one hundred percent of the world's population knows of the great hero of Mobius. Yet you couldn't save the world this time. Such a disappointment for a child like you. Did you finally admit defeat from that old fool Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who everyone refers to as Dr. Eggman?" Kaiser the Myth Hunter continued, shaking his head mockingly.

"Hey, I'm working on restoring the world back to the way it was, and stopping Eggman! So you're the Myth Hunter, right? Why try and kill my friend Sun here? There's nothing mytical about him!" The blue hedgehog argued, even though the Cheetah's words struck a cord in his heart, knowing that, as much as he didn't want to admit it, that the Hunter was right. He failed to stop Eggman from splitting the world apart and it hurt now more than it did when this mess started.

The Myth Hunter's smirk only grew as he talk a couple steps closer, while Sonic and Sun stood up and quickly stood in defense with the teenage hedgehog holding his arms out to shield the Werehog and Chip who quivered in fear, not liking this Cheetah one bit.

"Sun, you say? Is that what you named the Werewolf? His fur and body coat will be priceless, to finally make Myth into fact, for the riches of discovering and completing unfinished history." Kaiser explained, while finding the name amusing.

"**At night I'm a WereHOG, not a Werewolf, and during the day I'm a Hedgehog, you moron. In fact, there were no Werehogs in any kind of stories and Werewolfs are a load of rotten eggs.**" Sun hissed and corrected darkly, growling.

"Say what you will, Werewolf. You can't fool me with lies of claiming of what you are." Kaiser scoffed, pausing.

"I think this guy is nuts." Chip whispered shakily to Sonic who raised an eyebrow, and Sun who facepalmed himself.

"Yeah, especially since he wants to sell Sun's dead body for money. I hate poachers." Sonic whispered in agreement with a sweat-drop. "Plus, he's the next level of nuts."

Sun groaned. "**Nuts AND stupid.**"

The young hero frowned deeply as he took a step forward to the cruel and twisted hunter, saying. "Look, it's like Sun said, he's NOT a Werewolf. He's a hedgehog stuck being a Werehog during the night. I made a promise to cure him while we're fixing up the world to put an end to Eggman's latest taking over the world scheme. Why don't you go find a Werewolf somewhere else, if there is such a thing?"

Kaiser frowned himself darkly, cocking his rifle which made Chip gulp and even Sonic tense as the teenage hedgehog didn't like guns of any kind of all, since they reminded him too much of the police back at Station Square, and G.U.N. Sun stood his ground.

"Don't get in my way, boy. The Werewolf belongs to me now...along with your little pixie friend behind you." He warned.

"Say what!? You want Chip too!?" Sonic exclaimed in horror, while Sun's eyes widened in shock upon hearing this, and Chip cried out in fear and hidden himself further behind the horrified blue hedgehog. It was bad enough that Sun was a target with this crazy Myth Hunter, but the very thought of the guy killing and taking the pixie away as well...oh, Chaos, it was beyond horrible.

"Yes, because the little unusual pixie of a new kind will make a bonus for me getting rich." The Myth Hunter answered with a twisted, evil grin.

"No way! You're not getting any of my friends, you crazy Cheetah!" The blue hedgehog yelled defensively, standing protectively in front of his two new friends even more. "It's you and me on, Kaiser!"

"Is that a challenge, little hedgehog?" Kaiser asked, amused before laughing and then took aim at the group again which made each of their stomachs drop. "If that is what you wish, then I can spare the world from a child like you, especially since you are an annoyance."

"Chip, Sun, you guys stay back. I'll take care of this twisted guy!" Sonic instructed firmly, leaving no room for an argument in his tone. Chip attempted to protest and Sun looked ready to argue, but the blue hedgehog quickly added. "No arguments! Just do it!"

"Sonic...!" Chip muttered worriedly.

The teenage hero gave him an reassuring wink and thumbs up, before turning his attention back to Kaiser who prepared to fire and kill the hedgehog. However, in a blink of an eye before he could fire, Sonic suddenly vanished in a blue blur and as the Cheetah's eyes widened in shock as he wondered where his newest enemy had vanished to, he suddenly felt a sharp kick on his wrists and grunted in pain, and as he stumbled back, he found that his rifle was gone.

"What!?" Kaiser exclaimed in disbelief, looking around to see if and where he dropped it.

"Looking for this?" Sonic's voice in a taunting tone asked from his right. When the Cheetah looked sharply in the direction, the blue hedgehog held the weapon his left hand, before quickly emptying the deadly weapon and all of the castings rained out onto the floor and then tossed it aside where Sun caught it by stretching his arm and with a grin of his own, the Werehog easily broke it in half and throwing it into the trash can next to him.

"You...!" The Myth Hunter growled furiously, unable to believe what just happened.

Sonic couldn't help but chuckle with a smirk. "You know, Cheetahs like you and Mobini-ones may be known to be among the fastest of predators, but don't forget that I'm the fastest thing alive. I can handle you wherever I go."

"Insolent brat! I can see why Dr. Eggman dislikes you so much! You are too meddlesome for your own good, boy! Fine, then. I will deal with you personally!" Kaiser growled furiously, reaching behind his back and pulled out a deadly-looking whip with a handle that had fur on it, in a shape of a lion's tail. "Once I end your life, hedgehog, the Werewolf and the pixie will be mine!"

"Sun's a Werehog, and you're not getting to him or Chip! Not if I have anything to say about it, you crazy hunter!" The blue hedgehog yelled back, his smirk vanishing instantly and he glared at his newest enemy with a heated expression.

The Myth Hunter roared very much like a Mobini-Cheetah and whipped at Sonic who easily dodged it by running to the left, but as the dangerous rope hit the wall, the teenage hero and his companions were shocked at just how powerful it was. It made a large crack in the wall that not only reached up towards the pipes and gutter on the edge of the roof, but it was also so thick and wide that it was about the same length as Sun's body, large enough for Sonic and Chip to fit through without any problems.

The human owner, a man close to his thirties in his silky Pjs, inside the building on the other side of the wall, who had been brushing his teeth, jumped in fright when he heard the cracking noise and when he saw what happened, he screamed when Kaiser gave him a heated glare before turning his attention back to his opponent who's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Sorry! Dealing with an evil hunter here!" The blue hedgehog quickly called out apologetically to the occupant on the otherside of the wall when he heard the screaming, before leaping out of the way again when the Myth Hunter attempted to whip him again but missed. Though the weapon did smash a wooden crate into thousands of pieces and made another crack on the ground that was shockingly almost as big as the one in the wall.

Kaiser laughed evilly and whipped at Sonic again, but the teenage hedgehog glared at him and instead dashed forward, easily dodging from side to two to avoid the dangerous attack before Spin Dashing right into the Cheetah's chest, causing the Myth Hunter to roar in agony as he stumbled back but held a tight grip on his weapon. The cobalt hero didn't stop there as he karate-kicked at the chest, but he was shocked when the Myth Hunter blocked it with his arm at such powerful strength. Kaiser grinned which irritated Sonic who then punched him squarely in the face and kicked again in his original target point, this time catching his opponent off-guard once again.

However, the Cheetah hissed before whipping at the blue hedgehog who somersaulted backwards and out of the way, admittedly surprised with how strong and fast this guy was, but kept his cool as he continued to easily dodge depsite having a near hit on his arm which made him sweat-drop a little and mentally gulp nervously.

"Whoa! That's cuttin' it loose!" Sonic yelped, knowing that one inch closer and he'd be losing his left arm to a dangerous whip by an extremely dangerous evil hunter who seeks to capture and kill his two new friends for money and not having a single care to anyone else but himself. He had to knock the whip out of Kaiser's hands and fast.

"My strength, speed and whip can slice anyone and everything into pieces." Kaiser explained evilly with a cruel, twisted smirk that showed his fangs. "One hit and you will be sliced in half like a master swordsman cutting candles which seem to be untouched at first glance, but are then crippled. Now hold still, little hedgehog!"

"Hold still? I don't know the meaning of the word!" The blue hedgehog retorted, and leaped into the air to avoid the whip again before running along the wall on the side and dashed straight towards the Myth Hunter who once again lost sight of him for a split second and was then hit hard when Sonic then Homing Attacked on the chest and head.

He didn't stop there as Sonic then quickly kicked at the hand that wielded the weapon expertly hard that Kaiser screamed in agony while being forced to let go of his whip. The hero of Mobius then quickly grabbed it and dashed away before the Cheetah could retrieve it. He stood there in a safe distance from the Myth Hunter who, his hand injured for the second time tonight, growled furiously at the blue hedgehog.

"You may be able to slice everything and everybody with a single whip, but I destroyed robots with my speed, skill and even my quills. Especially giant killer robots." He told the evil Cheetah, tossing the Whip aside in a far distance.

The Myth Hunter looked ready to respond with an angry yell when Sun's Werehog hands suddenly grabbed him from behind, trapping the Cheetah in the tight grip and lifted him up slightly into the air.

"What?" Kaiser gasped, looking over his shoulder to see the Werehog glaring at him in anger and pure annoyance, while Chip had hidden himself inside another barrel, peering out nervously. The Cheetah growled. "Unhand me, Werewolf!"

"**It's Were**_**hog**_**, stupid hunter.**" Sun growled dangerously, which made Sonic gulp a little at the tone, sweat-dropping again and the feeling of fear of his rival-turned-friend's Werehog side as well as the beast inside him beginning to resurface, but the blue hedgehog mentally fought against it and only hoped that this battle's end wasn't going to be gruesome.

Fortunately, Sun had no intentions of eating the Myth Hunter. Instead, he began to spin around and around with his arms stretched out like a Merry-Go-Round, making the Cheetah cry out in alarm as he quickly began to get really dizzy while the Werehog spun faster and faster. Finally, he let go by tossing Kaiser soaring right into the sky as the evil hunter screamed while being sent flying into the distance, vanishing from sight.

"Have a nice flight, Myth Hunter! You won't be missed!" Sonic called out mockingly, smirking. He then turned his attention to Sun who dusted his hands. "That was a great throw there, Sun. You really sent that Chee-ting loser packing."

Sun snorted in amusement with how the blue hedgehog mispronounced the word cheating by merging it with Cheetah on purpose, while Chip hovered over towards them as he sighed in relief, and the Werehog said. "**You did most of the work. All I did was save you the trouble in finishing him off.**"

"Still counts." The blue hedgehog shrugged. "At least we don't have to worry about him for a long while, and hopefully if we do end up seeing him again, it'll be long after you're cured and both you and Chip get your memories back."

"That was close! I've never met anybody so scary and cruel before. I thought Beach-Ball Man was bad, but...whoa!" Chip remarked, still somewhat shaken with the Cheetah's twisted ways.

"Nah, there are other bad people in the world, and even up in space. Even long before Eggman was born. Thousands of years in fact." Sonic informed him, folding his arms. "There are good people in the world, and then there are bad ones too. I know that from experience as well."

"**That reminds me.**" Sun spoke up, turning his attention to the blue hedgehog and asked. "**So you know about the Myth Hunter, right? Where'd you hear that?**"

That made the teenager flinch, realizing that he let that thought slip and felt both embarrassed and nervous for forgetting. "Uh...well...I-it was before I met up with you guys and Tails back at Mazuri yesterday. Just as I was leaving Mnyambo's place."

* * *

_**Flash-Back: Just before meeting up with Sun, Chip and Tails in Mazuri...**_

_A few minutes after Sonic made a promise to Mnyambo that he will handle Eggman, the two finished off their food and water before making their way back to the main entrance. The teenage hedgehog followed the human shaman towards the front door after taking the Wooden Elevator back down._

_"I hope to see you again soon, young Sonic. It was wonderful to know the young hero of Mobius." Mnyambo wished._

_"Don't worry. I'll come back to visit." The blue hedgehog promised with a smile. "Thanks again, Mnyambo. I'm gonna go find my friends now."_

_"Ah, before I forget, there is something you must know. It is very important." The elder man quickly spoke up just as the young Mobian turned to leave._

_"Huh?" Sonic blinked, gazing back at him and wondered what he else he needed to know. Upon seeing the grave, firm look on his face quickly made him realize that something else was wrong and instantly felt nervous but hid it with a confused expression._

_Mnyambo sighed and whispered, "Beware of the Myth Hunter."_

_"The Myth Hunter? You mean like hunting things out of myths?" The cobalt hero blinked, not having expected that._

_"Yes." The shaman nodded. "You see, he was once a resident of Mazuri. But as a young child, he was fasinated with pure Myths of things that do not exist. Mythical creatures you hear in fairy tales or superstition. Growing up, he wished to make those Myths into reality, and had a cruel, twisted desire to not meet them, but to capture and kill them in cold blood, to sell their fur or skin or scales to the highets bidder."_

_"Sounds like Eggman's fantasy for his Egg Empire." Sonic remarked with a raised eye-brow and a sweat-drop. "He must've read too many Mystical story books and even sci-fi ones as a kid to be that crazy."_

_Mnyambo nodded grimly. "He traveled the world to understand better upon hearing stories of the Temple of Gaia, attending school for better education. But his heart had become clouded in self-isolation with a pure dark goal to make his goal a reality. When he returned, he was much worse off, just as I foresaw; I warned him as child that should he continue down this path, he would become ruthless, dark and evil. Unfortunately, his fate was already sealed; he cared for no one, and slaughtered half of my men when he attempted to stop him from going off on hunts to hunt down as many animals in the wild as practice to begin his real hunt."_

_"No way...! You mean this guy already...killed some of your people!?" The teenage hedgehog gaped in horror, his eyes widening at the very thought. Half of Mnyambo's people who had been trying to stop the crazy Hunter who used to live here...had all been killed in cold blood. No wonder almost everybody around here were wiry with Sun after the Shaman told them about what was going on before Eggman arrived._

_"He is extremely dangerous, and will have many plots to get what he wants. He is also delusional, and will kill anyone in his path, both the innocent and those who attempt to stop him."_

_"Man, and I thought Black Doom was bad enough. This Myth Hunter guy might as well be a mixture of both the evil alien and Eggman put together and then-some." Sonic muttered, folding his arms uneasily. "Where is he now?"_

_"Last my power has informed me before our world's current position, he was in the Kingdom of Soleanna, but found nothing as sorts. Whenever there is no lifeforms of animals or Myths or he is focused on a battle against one attempting to stop him, he will ignore the innocent and move on. But that was one month ago, so I'm afraid I do not know of where he is now. Be vigilant, young Sonic." Mnyambo explained._

_"So he could be anywhere." Sonic thought in concern, before nodding and said. "Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully my friends and I won't be seeing this guy anytime soon."_

_Thanking him again, the blue hedgehog took his leave to meet up with his friends and then ask Sun to speak with him in private to inform him of what he learned._

* * *

_**Back in the Present:**_

"But, since I was focused on telling you about what I learned about the current situation, I forgot to mention to mention this guy to you and I kinda also forgot to ask about what the Myth Hunter looked like. Sorry." Sonic finished explaining, shrugging sheepishly and apologetically over this mistake.

"What a horrible Cheetah! He's just as cruel as Dr. Eggman!" Chip exclaimed in horror and fear.

"And delusional." The blue hedgehog added, "I mean, seriously. He thinks that Sun's a Werewolf which thankfully don't exist, and him being a Werehog is probably the closest thing in that Myth actually being true. But it's the first in history of anything."

Sun groaned in frustration and annoyance, facepalming himself. "**As if we didn't have enough problems as it is. How is it you never met this guy or even heard about him until now?**"

"Dunno. Maybe he was keeping a low profile. Kaiser did sneak up on us tonight, so I guess he lurks around without being seen or heard, and I haven't heard of any reports of things like this. Not even from G.U.N back at Station Square." Sonic replied. "If that's the case, then I'm surprised no one's caught him yet considering how dangerous the guy is."

He then shook his head, "Which is kinda unbelievable, considering how Eggman stinks when it comes of keeping things hidden and yet the entire world is in more trouble with that guy being the biggest threat in Mobius."

"**Go figure.**" The Werehog said sarcastically, before muttering as he, Chip and Sonic glanced up at the night sky. "**Just hope I tossed that Hunter Creep to a deserted island where he won't be able to go anywhere.**"

"I think we should be fine for the time being. Come on, let's get going and hopefully we'll get there before we have anymore surprises interrupting us tonight." The blue hedgehog gestured, taking the lead towards the University again, with Chip and Sun nodding before following him.

But as they walked, Sonic couldn't help but let one particular sentence Kaiser told him before their battle echo in his mind, which hit him hard in his heart.

_"Almost one hundred percent of the world's population knows of the great hero of Mobius. Yet you couldn't save the world this time. Such a disappointment for a child like you."_

'_He's right. I couldn't stop Eggman from splitting the world apart, and if everyone managed to survive and know what happened, and know about me, they've gotta be so furious that they're probably coming up with their own ideas; like, '_Where is Sonic?_' or '_How could this have happened? Why didn't he stop Eggman or whoever else caused this?_' Even if I do put the world back together...would they be able to forgive me? Will the rest of my friends forgive me?_' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, as the very thought of everyone being so angry with him that they could easily rebel.

Or worse, place him in the ranks of a criminal. Then he would no longer be known as the famous hero of Mobius. Sonic felt panic and fear over people's reactions if they ever found out what he did that he was becoming worse than the time when he was put into jail when he had been innocent and mistaken for Shadow.

'_Okay, calm down, Sonic. You're doing the right thing by putting the world back together. Once the planet is back to normal, everybody will know that I saved it and will focus on their lives and avoiding Eggman even further._' He attempted to reassure himself, rubbing his arms as he did.

Suddenly there was a cold, clawed hand placed onto his shoulder which made Sonic freeze up and snap back to reality, the instant fear of another part of his problem shaking him to his very heart making him gasp.

"AHHH!" Sonic screamed and jumped back a little, the hand that belonged to Sun who yanked it back, jumping a little himself while Chip cried out in alarm.

"What!? Who-what-where-when-why!?" The little pixie exclaimed, while the blue hedgehog panted and realized that he had zoned out a little.

"Sun! Don't scare me like that." Sonic scolded, placing a hand to his chest as he willed himself to calm down. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, man."

"**Sorry. You looked like you were thinking hard of something.**" The Werehog rolled his eyes, which were thankfully not blood red. That meant the beast wasn't breaking free...at least for now.

Realizing that he was right, the blue hedgehog sighed and looked away while shaking his head. "I'm fine. Just...really worried about the world right now."

"You sure gave me a near heart attack. I thought something else was wrong." Chip muttered, once he realized that it was just an overreaction.

"I'm sorry, Chip. L-let's go." Sonic apologized before walking off again, unaware that his two companions looked on and shared a glance. Sun just shrugged with a sigh before following the teenage hero, while Chip just floated there with a worried expression as he watched his friend's retreating form.

"Sonic..." Chip whispered to himself in concern. The blue hedgehog has really gone through a lot and the pixie couldn't help but feel like that, despite having been cheered up and was surprisingly getting along with Sun who was also beginning to act a bit more nicer, that the situation was taking a toll on Sonic.

Chip wished there was something he could do to help him. Problem is, he didn't know what or how.

* * *

Inside the main office of the University, Tails was discussing with Professor Pickle while they waited for Sonic, Sun and Chip to arrive even though the eight year old fox was starting to get worried. He couldn't help but wonder what was taking so long, and thought that maybe the night monsters had anything to do with the delay.

The two-tailed kit was about to suggest that he should go out and find them despite it being dark and scary right about now, when the door opened, revealing the promised sight of the blue hedgehog and the other two. Unknown to them, Sonic made the attempt to hide his worries and seemed to be feeling a little better but still felt bad for what happened between him, Sun and Chip who finally caught up and seemed to be relieved that the teenager was okay for now.

"Hey. Sorry we're late." Sonic greeted as he walked into the room with Chip and Sun who closed the door behind him and approached Tails and Professor Pickle.

"Welcome back, Sonic, Sun and Chip! Tails informed me of your adventures." Pickle greeted, which the blue hedgehog smirked a little with a thumbs up and a wink at the praise for the job well done. Sun just shrugged and Chip looked baseful, his hands behind his back as he looked away shyly.

"There you guys are! I was getting worried." Tails sighed in relief, placing a hand to his chest. "Where'd you been?"

"Well, in that order, first Amy caught me in that tight hug of hers and became acquinted with Sun and Chip. Then we were nearly ambushed by a crazy stalking Myth Hunter who tried to kidnap both of them, but we managed to drive him off. One tough cookie of a poacher." The blue hedgehog explained as though it was a casual day of events, placing his hands on his hips.

"Amy's here?" The two-tailed fox blinked, before adding as his young intelligent mind caught up with what else his adoptive older brother had said. "Wait, you were attacked by a hunter called the Myth Hunter?"

Sonic nodded. "Yep. I forgot to mention about this guy, but Mnyambo warned me about him before I met you with you guys yesterday. But let me tell you, not only he's very dangerous, but that creep also thinks that Sun's a Werewolf and won't believe us when we told him that he's a Werehog."

"**He's also after the pipsqueak here too.**" Sun interjected, with Chip nodding nervously to confirm the Werehog's words.

Tails sweat-dropped with a gulp, already scared of the Myth Hunter. "Well, if he's after Sun and hunts things that are just pure myth but thinks that they're real, no wonder he's called the Myth Hunter."

"Worse part is, he shows no mercy to pretty much anyone, and he's strong and fast with a gun and a whip. So much so that he nearly tore down some guy's bathroom wall!" The blue hedgehog nodded in agreement. "We have to be very careful if he shows up again."

"Dear me. I was hoping to not hear from that dreaded Cheetah again." Professor Pickle muttered in dismay, catching the attention of the Mobians and pixie who turned to glance at him in surprise and disbelief.

"You know him?" Sonic asked, blinking.

"Do you know anything much about him, Professor?" Tails inquried in concern.

The human professor nodded grimly. "I'm afraid so, Tails. Three months ago, Kaiser Bakuvu, the real name of the Myth Hunter mind you, came to this city searching for anything related to Mythical species and even sought out my research. When I told him that I wasn't researching anything on Myths at the time, he stormed out to search for something else, with a dire warning that should I be wrong, he would...or dear, he would kill me."

"And Mnyambo just told me that Kaiser was at the Kingdom of Soleanna last month. It's good luck that no other lives have been lost here or at the other place." The blue hedgehog muttered in concern. "Just hope he doesn't find out about Dark Gaia, or else Eggman isn't the only one we have to worry about in trying to catch that giant monster for it's power."

"**Oh, give me a break. If that Myth-Loving loser tries to get to that giant thing, he'll end up squashed flat before he can even attack it.**" Sun pointed out with a scoff.

"Good point." Sonic chuckled a little. "So anyway, at least we sent that guy packing for now. Any updates on where the other Temples are?"

"As as matter of fact, yes." Professor Pickle replied. "The data indicates several entrances to the holy temple. First find the one located here in Spagonia, then the one in Holoska."

"**Oh, come on!**" Sun groaned loudly in annoyance and disbelief. "**You mean to tell me there'd been a Temple right here and none of us even knew it!? Why couldn't you have directed us to that first and then the one in Mazuri!?**"

"Well, at least we know where to look. Since we're already back here, it makes things easier and quicker to put this continent back into place." Sonic reassured to try and get his rival-turned-friend to calm down. "After that, we can head straight to Holoska since that's a place even I haven't been to yet, and it saves us time to get to both temples."

The Werehog shook his head in exasperation, grumbling under his breath. "**It would've been a lot quicker if the old man told us about the Mazuri Temple while we were there and then the rest of the stuff he said the other day back here. That could've saved us even more time.**"

"C'mon, guys! To the Temple!" The blue hedgehog declared confidently, feeling much better now that they were one or two steps closer in saving the planet. He grabbed hold of Chip who also cheered and onto Sun's arm despite the latter being heavier in his current state, but Sonic was convinced that he could carry him, or at least drag him.

"**Oh, Chaos. Please not Th-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!**" The Werehog screamed as he once again was pulled along by Sonic who dashed out of the room, surprisingly being lifted despite his current body having almost been impossible to lift back in the Mazuri jungle.

Once the trio were out of eavesdrop, Tails couldn't help but giggle at poor Sun being dragged by Sonic like that, trying to cover it with his hands. "I don't think poor Sun is ever gonna cope with Sonic's speed."

Professor Pickle just laughed in response.

But as Sonic was pulling his friends along the way towards the Temple of Gaia located somewhere in Spagonia, apparently Sun's throw hadn't been far or fast enough to drive Kaiser even out of the city. Because the Myth Hunter had crashed landed on top of a roof of an abandoned building with his head stuck inside. The furious and humiliated Cheetah grunted and pulled hard until his head was yanked free from the hole, and he hissed in pain while placing a hand to his forehead.

After that, he growled and glared up at the sky, thinking about his loss to the teenage hedgehog who had defeated him with the help of Sun the Hedgehog in a Werehog form, that the Myth Hunter still believed was a Werewolf.

"You may have defeated me this once, but mark my words, I _will_ kill you, and I _will_ get that Werewolf and the little pixie. This is just the beginning, _Sonic the Hedgehog._" Kaiser vowed darkly.

He will succeed in his goal. Kaiser the Myth Hunter will make sure of it.

* * *

**A/N: Oh boy. Now Sonic and his friends have an insane hunter on the loose and he won't give up without a fight. I based the Amy flash-back on Episode 9 "Last Resort" of Sonic X Anime since it's one of my favorite episodes.**

**The next chapter will hopefully have a bit more action as we continue the Spagonia adventure there.**

**See you later!**


	10. Chapter 10: Conflicted Emotions

**Author's Note: Not much to say here, so enjoy!**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. The franchise belongs to Sega. I only own Sun the Hedgehog and Kaiser the Myth Hunter.**

* * *

_Chapter 10: Conflicted Emotions._

"Man, these guys sure pack a punch!" Sonic remarked after he Spin Dashed into a Rhino-looking monster half-way across the city, knocking it back. The blue hedgehog and his companions had found trouble along the way to the Temple of Gaia, noticing an increase of the mysterious dark monsters which didn't help matters of the situation the world was going through.

He then easily karate-kicked another in the face and while it attempted to punch him, the teenage hero ducked before he ran up it's chest and delivered a karate-punch at the skull. Sonic then Homing Attacked it to finish off his opponent off and dashed away when another charged forward to attack him with it's horn. Before the fifteen year old could think of a plan to surprise attack it, Sun came to the rescue by grabbing hold of the monster, and like with Kaiser, swung it around and around while knocking down several more before the Werehog tossed it into five more who went down like bowling pins.

Sonic let out a whistle while Chip took a picture with a camera-though where the little pixie had gotten it from, the blue hegehog had no idea-and the former said. "Whoa, Sun. That was awesome!"

"**These things were getting on my nerve.**" Sun simply said, dusting his hands off. He then turned his gaze to their smallest companion and asked skeptically. "**And why are you carrying a Camera?**"

"I just thought I'd take some photos so that if I get my memories back and end up losing them again someday, these would remind me of what I went through of how to get them back again, and who to look for. Plus, it's fun!" Chip explained happily.

"Makes perfect sense." Sonic smiled, seeing the logic in that, before sensing another Monster-Rhino come charging at him, along with a Monster-Bee. He narrowed his eyes before jumping and ran along the wall of another building and then bolted off. The young hero Spin Dashed with a combination of karate kicks and punches at the Rhino first and dodged the bee before it made to sting him.

But he smirked and gave it a raspberry before jumping off the irritated horned-beast's head he'd landed on, and the two monsters ended up destroying each other before they even realized it. The blue hedgehog laughed at the stupidity of the monsters having done that.

"Piece of cake." The cobalt hedgehog said with a proud thumbs up and a pose, which had Chip quickly take a picture and Sun to roll his eyes.

"**You seriously have a big ego, you know that?**" The Werehog deadpanned.

Sonic shrugged, "Knuckles said the same thing. Plus, I've been through many crazy things before. This is actually no stranger than fighting a robotic copy of me that Eggman made to try and replace me, which failed miserably on his part, and said robot being rebuilt only to betray him, gain new insane abilities to morph and pretend to be Egghead while trying to take over the world, and growing into an ugly robot giant which Tails, Knux and I took care off together with the Chaos Emeralds."

"**...Never known robots to betray their masters, let alone being capable of doing so.**" Sun muttered blankly, and Chip nodded in agreement. "**For an evil genius, he's not very bright.**"

"He's just a big fat sore loser who doesn't learn much of his lessons. Sure he learned a lot from his mistakes, but he stubbornly refuses to give up his goal in taking over the world." The blue hedgehog stated as he began to take the lead again. "Sad, really. It had been a nice long break of him not being evil after Shadow and I saved the world together before the mess with Metal Sonic happened. I was hoping that Eggman would've given up on being evil, but that was just a wishful thinking."

The moment he said that however, Sonic was almost instantly reminded of how this mess really started; that the evil scientist pretended to be remorseful and the blue hedgehog had fallen right into his trap while having been somewhat skeptical at the same time, which hadn't saved him. If he'd just stayed his distance, he wouldn't have walked right into that contraption, been captured, stripped of his power, and the world wouldn't be this way. Then Sun wouldn't have gotten turned into a monster which his current form already developed a beast that was bent on taking control and eat the cobalt teenager, while the dark-blue hedgehog and Chip wouldn't have lost their memories.

Pausing in his steps at the thought, Sonic felt the heavy guilt and burden rush over him like hot water and he felt like he was struggling to breathe, desperate for air, his insides burning. How could he have been so foolish? Tails didn't blame him, Mnyambo didn't blame him, Knuckles did for a bit before realizing just how it effected the blue hedgehog after the fifteen year old thought about it more carefully, but who's to say that Amy wouldn't blame him? Kaiser certainly enjoyed taunting him for his mistakes, and while he wasn't an Eggman fan, he was still twisted and evil in his own way.

Lost in his thoughts, the blue hedgehog was brought out of it when he felt a sharp, clawed finger poke him on the back and, his fear washing over him this time as he felt the cold touch, he panicked.

"AH! Don't eat me!" Sonic cried out, bending down, curling into a ball and covered his head with his hands.

"**Okay, I know that the beast wants to eat you, but I've actually gotten over doing the same. Plus, your over-reactions are really starting to freak me out.**" Sun grumbled, backing away a bit while very annoyed. This made the blue hedgehog gasp softly and realized that the Werehog was just trying to get his attention.

"S-sorry. Guess I must've zoned out again." The teenager replied sheepishly and nervously, standing up while scratching the back of his head with a weak grin.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sonic?" Chip asked, worriedly. "I mean, no offense but you've been acting...kinda down since Sun threw that Myth Hunter guy away like trash."

"I'm fine." Sonic quickly answered, turning away as he mentally groaned at the fact that Chip had seemingly caught on of what he was feeling. Maybe it was the effects of the darkness inside his heart? The very thought of it chilled him to the core, and the blue hedgehog placed a hand to his chest, feeling his heart's beating at his finger tips. Was is the connection he strangely shared with Sun? The beast attempting to not only eat him alive, but also devour him from heart to soul?

Mnyambo's words of how the darkness was effecting him echoed into his mind.

* * *

_"Your love for your friends have strengthen your heart. You have carried the burden of being this world's guardian for a very long time. The darkness has began to break the inner barrier you have developed on your own, giving life to your greatest fears of losing all that you cherish." The shaman explained._

_"...Then, what do I do?" Sonic asked, very uneasy and realizing that it makes perfect sense. _

_"Always believe in your friends, just as they believe in you. Continue to do what you know is right, young Sonic. You are very brave to go on adventures and dangerous quests on your own, but there will be times when you will need your friends to help you. True friends always worry for each other, and while you may not be aware, your friends worry about you even when they know that you will be alright." Mnyambo wisely advised._

_"You think so?"_

_"I know so, young one."_

* * *

'_What if it's not enough? If I lose all of my friends one by one, what'll I do then? How can anybody forgive me over something like this?_' Sonic thought to himself, unconsciously shedding some tears. Losing one friend was a horrible feeling, and while he and Shadow hadn't been friends for long, when the black hedgehog was thought to have died, it effected the teenager so badly that when he saw him again, rendered to amnesia, the hole in his heart was fixed up and vanished like it hadn't been there, and it got better when the Ultimate Lifeform got his memories back and saved the world.

How can the cobalt hedgehog cope with losing his friends due to his actions? He desperately wanted to believe in them, but if they stopped believing in him...

He'd be all alone.

"Sonic?" Suddenly Chip appeared in front of him.

"AH!" Sonic yelped, not having expected his smallest friend to be in front of him, which made the pixie-dog to yelp as well, making the blue hedgehog realize this and quickly hold up his hands, waving them. "Sorry, sorry! I'm fine, really!"

"Um...But you're crying." Chip pointed out, gesturing at his friend's face.

"Huh?" Blinking and suddenly feeling his face damp, the cobalt hero touched it and surely enough, tears were shown on his gloved fingers. Realizing that he'd been silently crying without even knowing, Sonic quickly wiped them again, saying. "I-it's nothing. J-Just got something in my eye."

Suddenly he felt Sun's cold clawed hand grab hold of his right arm and pulled him forcefully forward and towards him, alarming the teenager who gasped, and by the dark look on the Werehog's face, the tale-signs of red flickering faintly but still noticable, Sonic felt fear wash over him almost instantly and wondered what he'd done wrong this time to make his rival-turned-friend mad and triggering the monster inside him.

"**You're lying. Tell us the truth...**" Sun hissed darkly, leaning forward which frightened the hedgehog who leaned back, and rendered speechless, making the Werehog growl. "**Tell the TRUTH!**"

"AAAAAAHHH!" Sonic screamed, paralyzed in terror and desperately tried to pull himself free only to be grabbed by the other hand and was being held just like back at Apotos. He struggled and squirmed to get out of the grip, but it was futile. "Sun! Let me go! Don't eat me, please!"

He then saw that the beast was beginning to take over, because Sun was now learning towards his right arm, making Sonic panic and fearing that he pushed the wrong button and he was about to be rendered with one arm. Despite trying not to let fear and guilt take over him, the fact that he tried to hide his feelings but realizing it wasn't such a good idea, and it would make the monster more powerful, he whimpered and could hear Chip desperately trying to tell Sun to stop but it fell to deaf ears.

"Okay, OKAY! I'm not fine! I'm scared that Amy will hate me because of what happened to the world and how I couldn't stop Eggman, and she'll never want to speak to me again! I'm also scared that everybody in the world will hate me because I couldn't prevent the world being split apart and that Kaiser is right about me! If I lose my friends, I don't know what to do!" Sonic exclaimed frantically, squeezing his eyes shut and hoped that his right arm wouldn't be bitten off.

However, the blue hedgehog started to feel hot breath on it and, realizing that this time he was really going to lose it, and Chip made an attempt to try and pull him free, Sonic's tears fell once more and braced himself for the agonizing feeling of losing his right arm forever. But when the tears landed onto the hand that held his body, that made Sun stop and almost in an instant regain control. The Werehog froze and, seeing what just happened, his eyes widened and he pulled away in sheer horror that he'd done it again.

He had almost eaten Sonic.

Breathing heavily at this, Sun slowly let the terrified hedgehog go, causing the latter and Chip, who had been covering his eyes as he didn't want to see it, to look up and saw that their friend had managed to snap out of it. Sonic placed his left hand onto his arm, breathing far too quickly for his liking and could only stare in shock.

"**It's...It's happened again.**" Sun muttered, facing at his hands in disbelief. "**The beast almost took me over.**"

"Sun..." Sonic whispered, fresh more tears forming. Unable to help himself, he threw himself into the Werehog's chest and hugged him as best as he could, trying hard not to cry but was unable to force down his guilt, fears, sorrow and hurt that made his heart ache, almost like something was squeezing it tightly.

Sun was surprised by this reaction, not having expected it. Even so, guilt rose inside his chest for having almost attempted to eat the hedgehog who was only trying his best to set things right, so he, in embarrassment but felt it was the right thing to do, hesitantly hugged the shaken and upset young hero back, with Chip joining in, hugging Sonic before the Werehog gotten the chance to go first so he'd ended up hugging his two smaller companions.

"It's all my fault...All of this happened because of me..." The fifteen year old whispered, more tears falling freely. "I wish I...I wish I could turn back time and...stop myself from falling into Eggman's trap, so that none of this would've happened. I let everybody down...! I've let the whole world down, and I'm supposed to be the hero of Mobius...!"

"Sonic, it's Beach-Ball Man's fault, not yours." Chip pointed out, trying to be as comforting as he could, hovering up and rubbed the depressed hedgehog's head carefully. "And besides, I'm sure Amy will forgive you."

Sonic didn't say anything, though he did feel a little bit better over the comfort he was receiving from not just from Chip, but oddly enough from Sun as well, whom days ago couldn't stand him, and now was like a close friend to him.

"**I'm sorry. That was uncalled for.**" Sun sighed, closing his eyes before asking. "**Why didn't you say anything earlier?**"

"Because I didn't want anybody to worry." The blue hedgehog admitted, taking deep breaths to try and calm down, sighing as he leaned back to end the hug, making the Werehog release him and Chip who flew back, and the teenager wiped away his tears, continuing. "I don't want to let anybody I know and care about to be into danger because of me, or even throw themselves just to protect me."

Sighing again, Sonic hugged himself slightly and added. "I know that they'll always worry, but it's my responsibility and I have to take down Eggman, one way or another. 'Cause if I don't, there's nobody else who can. Four years ago, I was the only one fast enough and willing to stop him, since even the military wouldn't stand a chance against those robots of his. Everybody was too scared to go up against him and he doesn't make his threats lightly."

"Whoa...That long?" Chip asked in disbelief.

"**Huh? If the Military couldn't go up against that loser, how is it that you could and there's just one of you?**" The Werehog asked, dumbfounded.

Sonic just shrugged. "Guess it's just I'm the fastest thing alive. I was born with my speed, and it began to show when I was two or three years old. At least that's what my Mom always said. I started walking in the first three months of my life. Besides, I knew that I had to do something, so I charged straight forward to stop him."

A moment of silence.

"**You're the craziest guy I've ever met, and I don't remember meeting any other crazy people.**" Sun shook his head in disbelief.

"Hey, I never denied the fact that I'm crazy. Plus, I can be a little bit of a daredevil when I wanna be." The blue hedgehog said, scratching his head sheepishly. From the bewildered look from Chip and skeptical look from the Werehog, Sonic sighed. "Okay, so I'm pretty much a daredevil when I wanna be."

Lowering his arm, Sonic then continued. "Anyway, I'm not even sure if Ames will forgive me over something like this. It's not to say that she's my girlfriend despite that she's madly in love with me, and I do like her as a friend...The point is I'm partially responisble for this mess. So I have to fix it."

"**You know, the way how you talk about Amy, I think I know what you're problem is.**" The Werehog stated, a ghost of a smirk forming. "**You're secretly in love with her, and you're just too shy to admit it even to yourself.**"

"Am not!" The cobalt hedgehog denied in annoyance, turning away even as he was blushing bright pink on the muzzle. Though there was this little voice in the back of his head that Sun made a good point, but Sonic mentally told it to hush up.

"Well, maybe you should talk to her." Chip suggested.

"But what if she won't let me explain?" Sonic asked, quickly growing worried.

"You never know unless you try."

While the pixie made a very good point, the fifteen year old still wasn't fully certain. He wanted to believe that she would forgive him, he was too scared.

"**I agree with the squirt. Sonic, you have to talk to her.**" Sun said, firmly.

Realizing that he wouldn't be able to know unless he did talk to her, the blue hedgehog sighed. Eventually Amy will find out, and Sonic would feel more comfortable if he explained better than anybody else, and he didn't want to the burden onto Tails since the poor kid had been scared of the monsters back at Apotos, and the eight year old already had his hands full with helping Professor Pickle in locating the Gaia Temples and being the only transport across the scattered planet.

"You guys are right. As soon as we're done with the Temple here, I'll talk to her before we leave." He finally agreed, nodding. While Sonic wasn't used to revealing his problems as much, Mnyambo was right. The hero of Mobius had to put his trust in his closest friends and hope for the best.

Both Chip and Sun nodded in approval, before Sonic gestured them to follow as they made the last trek towards their destination.

* * *

It hadn't taken long for Sonic and his two companions to reach the temple, only to discover that they couldn't get to it yet. Afterwards, the trio began to make their way back to the University to meet up with Tails and head towards Holoska to see if they would have better luck there. However, at the same time at the city's plaza, Amy was about to head over to a nearby hotel to rest for the night and hoped that her 'boyfriend' was still around the next morning, because even he needed some sleep, when something very strange and wrong was going on.

"Huh? What's going on? Is there a party or something?" The pink hedgehog wondered, though the way how people were dancing to the music, she couldn't help but notice that they all seemed to act so strangely.

Before she could pounder further into this, suddenly a tall man danced up to her and without even asking permission or even greeting her normally and grabbed her by the arm, pulling the shocked and rightly insulted twelve year old onto the dance floor.

"HEY!" Amy screeched, suddenly finding herself being spun around and around quickly which she was already getting very dizzy. "What's the big idea!?"

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! Come on, babe!" The man laughed as he refused to let go. "Let's dance the night away!"

"Ack! Help!" She cried, unable to escape.

Fortunately, help had unexpectedly arrived as Sonic, Chip and Sun, hearing the music and wondering what was going on, came into the scene and saw the 'party'. They stood just outside of the dance floor and each one had their own expressions of confusion, shock and wonder. Though when the blue hedgehog heard the cries of help from his self-proclaimed girlfriend, he spotted her being twirled around, and from the looks of it, she wasn't enjoying it at all.

Plus the way how everybody was dancing made him frown in concern, and knew that something was up, especially since he had a feeling that he'd rescuing Amy...again.

Sun was frowning as well, as while he raised an eyebrow, his eyes widened as he saw something extremely strange; in his vision, he saw some kind of dark mists that resembled to that of the monster bosses he absorbed float around them, and what was more unusual was that Amy Rose, Sonic's 'girlfriend', was the only one perfectly normal.

"Whoa...Is there some kind of party going on?" Chip asked, puzzled.

"No." Sonic spoke up, having a bad feeling about this. "Something's not right here."

"**Is it just me, or do you guys see dark mists or whatever on those people, except for that Amy girl?**" Sun finally spoke up on what he was thinking and seeing, making the hedgehog and the pixie glance up at him in confusion.

"What dark mists?" The teenage hero asked, blinking.

"**Okay, so it's just me then.**" The Werehog grumbled, rubbing his eyes to double check. But when he looked again, he was shocked that he could still see the mists around all those people, before groaning. "**Great, now my head's playing tricks on me.**"

Even so, Chip shrugged before deciding to take a picture, which Sonic noticed and suddenly felt that this was a bad idea.

"Uh, Chip? You don't want to be-"

_FLASH!_

"-Doing that..." The blue hedgehog finished in exasperation too late, as the pixie had taken the picture of the 'party'. No sooner had the picture had been taken, suddenly the mists became more visible and emerged from the dancers, including the one that forcefully danced with Amy, and to the shock of the trio, the darkness formed into four large hornless Rhino monsters, causing the people to collapse unconscious, while the pink hedgehog, being let go, was spinning out of control and away from the crowd.

"_**Huh!?**_" Sonic and Sun both exclaimed in shock and disbelief, while Chip's mouth dropped down, literally almost to the ground. In that instant, the monsters spotted them and began to charge towards the trio.

"It's a carnival of creeps out there!" Chip screamed out hysterically, panicking.

Sonic narrowed his eyes before spotting his self-proclaimed girlfriend in the danger of being targeted by the monsters and knew that he had to get her out of range first. So he quickly instructed, "Chip, find a place to hide! Sun, keep these guys busy! I'll be right back!"

The blue hedgehog quickly sped off towards the pink hedgehog, scooping her up which made her stop spinning. Well, literally at least, but she felt like her head was still spinning, because her eyes certainly were even as he carried her off to safety, and she could see stars circle around her head, her vision all blurry, even as Sonic's face was shown, but there was like three of him in her case.

"Ugh...S-Sonic?" Amy groaned.

"Don't worry, Amy. I gotcha." Sonic reassured, gently setting her down a second later once he found a decent place for her to be safe. "Stay here. Leave this to me."

"...Why won't everything stop spinning?" The pink hedgehog complained, even as her 'boyfriend' took off to help out Sun in the battlefield.

Unaware to them, high above a couple of buildings and from a stone arch, Kaiser, who had been searching for his new enemy and prizes, saw the young hero of Mobius and, seeing who the teenager had saved, smirked coldly as a twisted idea formed in his twice as twisted and cruel mind. This certainly will make things more simpler to get what he wants.

* * *

Sun had just about caught one of the Rhinos with his clawed hands, slashing at it forward before he jumped over it's head, grabbing it and then tossed over him, flatting it onto the ground, the Werehog punched it right into it's torso when Sonic appeared and Homing Attacked into another when two of them turned their attention to him. The blue hedgehog used his speed to dodge it before jumping up high and karate-kicked at it's face, before he rapid kicked it several times and then leaped away, while his opponent stumbled into it's companion before vanishing into nothing.

"**Show-off.**" The Werehog rolled his eyes when he saw this after finishing off his opponent, and began charging at the other. Sun stretched out his arms and violently lifted the Rhino-Monster high before thrusting it back down where it was crashed upon impact, leaving behind a cloud of dust flying everywhere. Sonic by then Spin Dashed into the last remaining monster who was tough, but the blue hedgehog fought with most of his might and eventually defeated it.

"Yeah! Take that, Hornless-heads!" The blue hedgehog cheered, attempting to share a high-five with Sun who raised an eyebrow, making the teenager lower his arm. "Aw, c'mon, Sun! Don'tcha want to share a high-five?"

Before Sun could even reply, a loud terrified scream filled the air which alarmed and made the two jump, while Chip, flew over from his hiding place, yelped in fright as he asked panickly, "W-what was that!?"

"**I don't think we're out of the woods just yet.**" The Werehog stated.

"...Amy!" Sonic cried out, feeling his heart leap into his throat as he feared for the worst. Without hesitation, he immediately dashed off to where he left his self-proclaimed girlfriend, making Sun, who blinked in surprise, jump and use the poles hanging from the buildings to follow, swinging his way which surprisingly almost matched the blue hedgehog's speed.

"Hey! Wait up!" Chip cried out, flying to try and follow his two friends, leaving the crowd on their own as they began to awaken, and were left wondering what had happened to them.

* * *

"AMY!" Sonic called out, arriving just as where he left her, but froze in his tracks as while he had found her where she had been...someone else had already beaten him to his friends, one that he thought wouldn't see again for at least a while. His eyes widened in sheer horror and no small amount of anger, as Kaiser has the pink hedgehog wrapped tightly in one arm around the neck.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! You never should have left her out in the open, boy." The Myth Hunter laughed evilly, grinning coldly at the young hero, while Amy struggled to try and pull herself free.

"Kaiser!? I thought Sun threw you away!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, glaring at the evil Cheetah.

Kaiser smirked, "Oh, he did, but not far enough. That Werewolf is certainly powerful, but I will claim him and that little pixie of yours."

"Werewolf? Hey, wait a minute, buddy! Sonic's new friend Sun isn't a Werewolf! He looks nothing like it!" Amy exclaimed and while she had no idea what was going on, seeing how Sun was a friend of her 'boyfriend', she was quick to join in to defend the Werehog. "Where'd you get that idea, huh?"

"Silence, girl!" Kaiser hissed darkly, placing his other hand over her mouth to stop her from talking.

"Let her go, Myth Hunter!" Sonic demanded, glaring furiously. "She has no idea what's going on!"

"Oh, I will, if you give me the Werewolf and the little pixie." The Myth Hunter bargained coldly, holding the captured pink hedgehog more tightly. "Or else this girl's life means nothing to you? So, which is it...your friends...or I end this child's life?"

Sonic felt a mixture of horror, helplessness, and rage fill up all at once. He hated being in this situation, especially whenever his friends were held captive against their will to which whenever he had what evil villains wanted, most of the time it was Eggman who did the bargaining which he'd never keep his word anyway and the blue hedgehog had a feeling that he'd be dead before Amy could even be given to him, but there was no way he was going to hand over his new friends to the evil hunter.

"The clock is ticking...you have ten seconds to decide, boy." Kaiser warned, "One...two...seven...!"

That did it. That was the last straw for the hedgehog, as he growled, his eyes filled with pure anger and flames. No one was going to threaten and/or kill his friends on his watch. He knew what he had to do. It was risky, but there was no other choice.

"I SAID LET HER GO!" Sonic screamed in rage, running up towards them and before his newest enemy could even finish fake-counting to ten, the blue hedgehog ran around and around and around the duo quickly that he was creating a Sonic-Tornado which lifted them up high into the air, much to their alarm. To Amy, however, she knew that this was one of her boyfriend's special skills, having witnessed more times than she can count.

"W-What!? AAAAHHHHHHH!" The Myth Hunter in the meantime screamed in shock and panic, being forced to let go of his captive as the gusts of wind was too strong even for him.

Sonic didn't stop there as even as he stopped running around in circles, he jumped right into his own attack using his Homing Attack and hit the evil Cheetah several times as revenge due to Amy being threatened. While he was doing that, Sun and eventually Chip who panted in exhaustion, came around the corner and stopped to see what was going on. While they couldn't see much due to the tornado spinning and whirling around, they caught glimpse of the blue blur, along with a pink blur, and a white-silver blur.

"Wha-whoa! A mini tornado!" The pixie exclaimed in shock and amazement.

"**...Explain to me how Sonic managed to do that?**" The Werehog asked somewhat pleadingly, bewildered at this admittedly cool technique.

Eventually the aforementioned blue hedgehog stopped and leaped down just as Amy began to fall. He reached out and caught her in his arms, spinning to escape his own attack, landing in a crouch after emerging with the pink hedgehog cradled in his chest. Kaiser in the meantime was spat out and thrown far away from sight for the second time, except even further than how Sun managed to do that. The twice-defeated Cheetah screamed as he vanished into the sky into hopefully a much further distance.

"Hey, wasn't that the horrible Cheetah guy who thinks you're a Werewolf, Sun?" Chip asked, recognizing the vanishing figure of Kaiser.

"**Ugh...That crazy Myth-Loving loser, again?**" Sun groaned in response, shaking his head. "**Now he's going after little girls? What's next, chasing after giant mutant chickens?**"

Sonic panted, attempting to calm down after his rage episode, before gazing at the slightly stunned but okay Amy Rose who shook her head to regain her bearings and then gazed up at her blue heroic savior.

"You okay?" He asked, and when she nodded, feeling very relieved, he smiled softly and reassuringly at her. "It's okay. You're safe now."

Seeing that while he had taken the risk of doing that, he had saved her, Amy blushed while saying happily, her eyes twinkling with absolute love. "You're my hero!"

The blue hedgehog helped her to stand and just winked at her, very relieved that she was alright and safe. While he hadn't expected to be coming to her rescue twice tonight, and felt guilty for having her being held captive by a crazy Myth-loving Cheetah who was also a cold, blooded killer, which made him feel even worse than he ever had before. Knowing that she was held hostage for Sun and Chip's capture, and how this mess started in the first place, Sonic knew there and then that he truly is at fault. If only he hadn't fallen into Eggman's trap...

He frowned and looked away slightly from her as this realization dawned onto him. Unfortunately for him, she caught on and her excitement dimmed, replaced by sudden great worry.

"Sonic? What's wrong?" The pink hedgehog asked, not knowing what was going on. "Are you okay? What's this about that guy thinking that Sun is a Werewolf?"

Sonic felt his throat go all dry, unable to speak even with his two new friends watching and the aforementioned Werehog gesture at him to tell her with a firm nod. He knew that he should, but the fear of her being angry with him over the situation, the rejection and losing their friendship lingered. But he swallowed that as much as he could, and forced himself to look at her, directly into her beautiful jade green eyes that were filled with worry.

"Amy...I-" He began, but unfortunately was cut off when he and the others heard someone approach from behind Sun and Chip who turned around and moved out of the way, with the sudden appearance of Professor Pickle approaching.

"Ah!" Said the man as he approached. "That should calm things down a bit around here. Chalk another one up for you, Sun and Chip, Sonic."

"Oh, hey Professor." The blue hedgehog greeted, trying to hide the fact that he was annoyed for being interrupted, but at the same time felt grateful as he didn't feel ready to spill the beans yet, and, doing so in the middle of the street wasn't such a good idea.

"You know them, sir?" Amy asked, surprised as she didn't recognize the man.

"Of course!" Professor Pickle said warmly. "They and Tails have rescued me from that dreaded Dr. Eggman's base the other day."

"What's going on? What was Eggman doing? Please, tell me everything you know!" The pink hedgehog pleaded, pulling Sonic by one hand as the blue hedgehog yelped, and then grabbed hold of Pickle's other hand and pulled him along as well.

"A-Amy! Hold up!" Sonic cried out, but was ignored and continued to be pulled along.

"Y-yes, of course. Let's speak over a nice plate of cucumber sandwiches." The human researcher on the other hand agreed, making both the blue hedgehog and the Werehog to roll their eyes, while Chip quickly followed.

Sun shook his head with a shrug, sighing in exasperation. "**That girl is certainly energetic. And what's with that guy and his obsession over cucumber sandwiches? Doesn't he eat anything else?**"

Deciding to forget about it, the Werehog quickly made to follow the group to hopefully get this nightmare over with and back on track on where they needed to get to.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a white room filled with computers and contraptions, as well as many robots typing away with several monitors that kept an eye on the progress of Dark Gaia, Eggman was at the very back observing everything from the top. By then, Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun and Orbot arrived, the former two robots holding out a silver plate with a large subway-lengthed sandwich that was extra large.

"Here you go, doctor!" Decoe declared.

"Dinner is served!" Becoe added.

"Thank you." The evil scientist stood up from his seat and took the sandwich before asking. "What's the progress on the Dark Gaia-powered Eggman Land construction system?" He took a bite out of his food which could be served for at least ten people.

"Current status is... 27% complete." Orbot replied. "Progress is significantly behind projected timetable. Presumed cause of delay... is Dark Gaia dispersion across the globe."

"Funny, I was thinking it was Sonic butting in as always." Bokkun grumbled to himself in annoyance, while Eggman scoffed down the rest of his sandwich in one bite, clearly more than annoyed and frustrated with the progress.

"Oh, of all the lazy..." Eggman grunted, ranting childishly. "Here I go to the trouble of waking that Dark Gaia thing up, and it causes me nothing but delays!"

"To be fair, doctor, Dark Gaia is humongous." Decoe pointed out.

"Yeah, compared to Perfect Chaos, that thing makes everybody else look like ants!" Becoe agreed, shuddering at the memory of seeing the giant monster emerge from the planet. "Me, I felt like a pin even from far away."

Orbot on the other hand, came up with another conclusion. "Dark Gaia had yet to reach maturity within the planet's core. Ergo, it was still incomplete at the time of its awakening. Ergo, it was unable to sustain its own weight upon its release. Ergo, it scattered around the world."

"I don't want to hear about its weight issues." Eggman complained, facepalming himself, growling. "So what if I gave it a bit of a sudden awakening? This is unacceptable!"

"You might want to talk about your own weight issues, doctor." Becoe blurted out, only to shriek in fright when the evil man glared furiously at him.

"What did you say!?" The evil doctor growled darkly.

"N-nothing!" The grey robot whimpered, quickly hiding behind Decoe who sweat dropped nervously, quivering in fear as he was afraid of what their creator would do to them.

Unfortunately, Eggman's latest creation had the nerve to add which didn't help to improve the man's anger. "Ergo, this is a repercussion of your hasty actions..."

"What was that!?" Eggman now turned his attention to round robot who just shrugged, pretending to be innocent, while the other three robots jumped in fright. Growling, he turned his attention back to the progress and snarled furiously. "I'm having a bad enough day as it is. First, that professor runs off with the Gaia Manuscripts, and now the planet's coming back together!"

Yelling in rage, he bashed onto the keyboards which shook a little. "CURSE THAT SONIC! WHY CAN'T HE JUST DIE ALREADY!? THAT LITTLE PINCUSHSION BRAT ALWAYS MANAGES TO SURVIVE!"

"Um, hate to break to you, doctor, but if Orbot is right, it's because the Chaos Emeralds are having their powers restored which is also restoring Mobius." Decoe said nervously.

"Which you pretty much threw out along with Sonic and that hairy guy that appeared out of nowhere." Becoe shakily added, peering from behind the yellow robot.

"Ergo, another repercussion of your hasty actions." Orbot calmly concluded.

Even though he remembered that and realized that they were right, since he was now mentally chastising himself for having done that without even thinking, Eggman refused to give into that and instead attempted to defend himself by angrily stuttering. "Q-quiet, you junk heaps! That was, uh… all part of my plan! Part of the big picture! Where's the fun in having my plans succeed without any challenge…?"

"Did you plan on Sonic surviving the fall?" Bokkun asked innocently.

"Of course I did! E-Everything I said to him was to stop him from figuring it out!" The round-shaped man lied, before clearing his throat and instead focused back onto the main subject. "A-anyway, what's the status of the remaining Temples of Gaia?"

"Eggman forces have currently secured all locations. Defensive preparations are nearly complete." Orbot reported as he gestured to the screens, while Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun all shared incredulous and skeptical expressions over their creator's words.

That for once was good news to Eggman as he sat back into his chair. "That'll take care of Sonic and two new friends for now, which leaves the problem of Dark Gaia. It'd be difficult to collect every piece scattered all across the world."

"So was collecting the Chaos Emeralds in the past. One time you managed to steal most and feed them to Chaos." Becoe stated.

"Searching conventional wisdom banks for topical advice. _"The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. Slow and steady wins the race. Nobody likes a whiner."_" Orbot said, which made the other three robots fall to the floor with groans of disbelief.

"Hhmm... isn't there a more efficient way? Some way to, I don't know... gather them all up at once?" Eggman asked thoughtfully, scratching to top of his bald head. Suddenly that gave him an idea as he slammed a fist into his palm. "Wait, that's it! Of course!"

"You mean you're going to bring them all together at the same time?" Decoe asked, surprised as he and the other robots, save for Orbot who decided to take his leave, watched their creator manueveur his chair towards the keyboard.

"That is precisely it, Decoe." Eggman answered, chuckling evily as he immediately began typing down on his keyboard. "With this... THIS, all of my plans will realized! Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!"

"Um, speaking of which...What do you think happened to that hairy thing? If Sonic survived, where is that mutant hedgehog?" Bokkun spoke up curiously, causing the evil doctor to pause in his work as the thought had slipped from his mind.

"Hmm...Excellent question. That Werehog did seem to have appeared out of nowhere. Perhaps that thing has a connection with Dark Gaia as the timing can't be a coincidence." Eggman muttered thoughtfully.

"Hey, was it just me or did Sonic's new hedgehog friend Sun look exactly like him? Same build and such, only darker in colour?" Becoe spoke up, remembering Sun the Hedgehog back at Mazuri.

Decoe blinked in realization and added, "Yeah, that guy looked like he could be Sonic's twin brother or something, and his fur was the same colour as that Werehog thing."

The more Eggman listened to the bumbling robots ramble, the more his evil genius mind went back to how the Werehog appeared out of nowhere, and then seeing Sonic again only with another hedgehog that was exactly identical to him, more so than Shadow, and as he thought about it, he realized that both Sun and the Werehog did have the same fur colour...It was then that he realized something which he also learned from the Gaia Manuscripts.

"It can't be!" He suddenly exclaimed in shock, making his robots jump and fall onto the floor in fright for the second time over the outburst.

"What? What is it, doctor?" Decoe asked, worriedly as he and the other two robots recovered.

"Unbelievable! Sun the Hedgehog is not Sonic's brother, even though they share the same blood, or perhaps a part from the latter's body..." Eggman began as he began to sweat in disbelief, and turned around with a look of some horror. "That dark blue hedgehog is the Werehog, being turned into such during the night and a normal Mobian by day. On top of that, where he comes from...he is Sonic's Dark Gaia clone."

"HUUUUUUHHHH!?" Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun all exclaimed in disbelief, moving back in horror when they heard this. Sun the Hedgehog...is the clone of Sonic the Hedgehog!?

"It makes perfect sense on where that creature has come from, and yet whether that hedgehog knows of this or not is left to debate." Eggman continued, attempting to force himself to calm down despite that this new revelation was astonishing.

"Does that mean there are such a thing as living clones?" Decoe asked, curiously.

"But how could that be?" Becoe asked, still in disbelief.

"According to the Gaia Manuscripts, when Dark Gaia begins to awaken, a being born from the body sample of a human or a mobian or an animal of a pure heart along with tears, a great power that is drained and anger and sorrow will appear, both as a creature of darkness, and heart-given new life form with a heart and mind of their own. However, the ultimate price is that he or she must be sacrificed along with the dark beast within them, either good or evil." The evil scientist explained.

Eggman then stared forward, admitting. "But I didn't think that part of the legend was true. I thought it was nonsense."

"So, basically...Sonic gave his own clone the name Sun? Why's that?" Bokkun asked, dumbfounded.

The evil doctor thought deeply, before a realization formed into his mind as memories of what happened back up in space returned to him.

* * *

_"RRRRGGGHHHHHH!" The Werehog roared loudly, that made Sonic jump in fright and Eggman and his minions scream in terror._

_"AHH! What the!?" Sonic exclaimed, and then tried to reason with the beast after a few moments of terrified silence. "Uh...Sorry, big guy. But I'm kinda busy with a talking Egg right now."_

* * *

That made Eggman smirk as another idea formed into mind. "Clearly both foolishly believe that Sonic's new clone is like every other Mobian, simply having lost his memories and thus since that little blue brat seems to be attempting to help him regain them which he does not have, he was given the name Sun by choice. That still leaves the problem with how the clone was created. He could be quite useful, considering that he has the darkness of Dark Gaia."

"So do we capture Sonic's clone, Dr. Eggman?" Becoe inquried.

"Exactly. But first, we must learn of how Sun the Hedgehog's creation is made be and what body sample from Sonic was used, because clearly the world being split apart has made that little cactus cry, which is the first of the three keys of his clone's birth. The second was Dark Gaia's awakening." Eggman said, before giving out his orders. "Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, salverage for the video footage of that moment so we can learn more and then move on into capturing that cloned hedgehog!"

"Yes, doctor!" The three robots saluted immediately, and took off to their task, while the evil scientist turned back to his own task and resumed typing.

"You may be restoring Mobius back together, Sonic, but you certainly have no idea what you're really in for, especially with your new 'brother' you have just given the name of Sun. You have just given me a new oppotunity to build my Egg Empire! Bwahahahahahaha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Eggman laughed manically.

* * *

Back at the Spagonia University, after meeting up with Tails, reporting to Professor Pickle of the process and explaining to Amy of what was going on, well, mostly on their part, Sonic felt increasingly uncomfortable in the presence of his self-proclaimed girlfriend and excused himself to the guest room for bit of rest and thinking.

The blue hedgehog simply sat on the edge of his bed in the room he shared with Tails and Chip before their return to Mazuri, deep in thought and feeling rather very depressed. Despite on what Sun and Chip had told him, and that he really should tell Amy, Sonic still felt the unbearable fear and guilt of what was going on. It didn't help that now there was the threat of Kaiser the Myth Hunter who still believed that Sun was a Werewolf and wanted to kill him and sell his Werehog form for money. He had a terrible feeling that the evil Cheetah wanted to do something similar with Chip.

To make things worse, he threatened to use Amy in order to face Sonic to hand over his two friends for her safety, and he didn't want to lose either one of them. Not when he had promised to restore Sun to normal as well as helping both him and Chip to get their memories back.

"...Oh, Chaos...What've I done?" The blue hedgehog whispered to himself, shakily as the urge to break down threatened to swallow him whole. What had started as a decent good day turned into a night full of terrors. Squeezing his eyes shut, he facepalmed himself. "Sonic, you total moron of a hedgehog! You should've known better!"

Before he can smack himself on the head, somebody knocked on the door which startled him out of his self-hatred thoughts. The cobalt hero looked up hesitantly, and while he wasn't quite ready to leave or have any visitors yet, he knew that he shouldn't be wasting time. So he called out as calmly as possible. "Come in."

The door opened slowly, and the very last person he wanted to talk to entered; Amy Rose who still held the look of worry even after she was given more details of what was going on.

"Sonic? Are you okay?" The pink hedgehog asked, entering the room and closed the door behind her before slowly walking up to him. "Tails, Sun and Chip said that you wanted to talk to me."

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Sonic replied with a weak smile.

"You've been acting weird ever since you saved me from that crazy Kaiser guy. What's wrong?" Amy replied hopped onto the bed and sat next to him on his right.

At first the blue hedgehog didn't want to say anything, but knew that, given just how stubborn she can be, he wasn't getting out of it and he had to face the fireworks sooner or later. He exhaled deeply and braced himself; it was now or never.

"I'm sorry, Amy. This whole thing is all my fault." He began, unable to look at her. "Truth is, I...I messed up epically."

"Huh? How can it be your fault if Eggman's the one who split the world in the first place, with this whole Dark Gaia thing, Sun being a Werehog-which I find to be a bit creepy but it makes sense on how different he looks-at night and both he and Chip losing their memories?" She asked, confused.

"Because I'm part of how the planet got split up in the first place." Sonic answered, and cringed as he heard her gasp. "When I went up against him in space, I had to use the Chaos Emeralds in order to get out of his giant robot's hands that caught me, and I followed him when he tried to escape...except that I fell right into his trap. He captured me in this electrical field thingy which was part of the giant cannon. It absorbed my power, and drained the Chaos Emeralds completely dry, and that's how..."

He trailed off, memories of that horrible moment resurfaced, forcing him to close his eyes again, his heart aching in sorrow and guilt. "...That's how Mobius ended up the way it is now. I was trapped! I couldn't do anything to stop him! If I had been more careful, none of this would've happen! Amy, I'm so sorry! Please...Please forgive me!"

Sonic buried his face into his hands, struggling against the losing battle of an emotional breakdown, even as he continued. "On top of everything else, Sun just appeared out of nowhere, both he and Chip losing their memories...and now a little bit of that monster's darkness is inside me, and there's another monster inside Sun, putting him in danger and...Oh, man, I really thought everybody was dead! I thought the world was completely destroyed! But it being this way is...is still horrible!"

Amy sat there, stunned of what she was hearing. But to see her dearly beloved hero, who was always so optimistic, so full of life and cheers, fun-loving, adventure-loving, brave, fast, strong in his own way, kind and caring, in this state including blaming himself for something that he tried to prevent and was now struggling to stop himself from crying...and clearly believing that she would be furious with him over this...it broke her heart.

"...But if you want to leave, and never be my friend anymore...I understand." Sonic miserably, lowering his hands and placing them onto his knees, tears clearly visible. "I'll just...have to accept and move on. After everything I've done...I'm not sure if I even deserve any friends anymore. Maybe it's best if I spend the rest of my life all alone. I don't want anything bad happen to you, or Tails, or anybody else. I almost lost you today."

"Sonic, don't be silly." She told him softly, gently placing her hand onto his right, causing him to look up at her in surprise, and his heart ached even further to see that she too looked ready to cry. "How could you say such a thing? You can't go blame yourself over something that's really Eggman's fault...! Did you really think I'd be angry with you, and stop loving you? That I'd never want to see you again?"

"S-sort of." He admitted, feeling a little bit of hope rise in his chest. "I mean, I'm still not gonna marry you, but I care about you a whole lot. How could I make a decision to trade you over any other of our friends? You, Tails, Knuckles, Cream and Cheese, the Chaotix, Chip and Sun, and even Shadow, Rouge and Omega... you guys, my freedom and speed, and our planet, made my life a whole lot better. I'd sacrifice myself to protect all of you."

"Oh, Sonic. What you did wasn't your fault. You were just trying to stop him like you always do." Amy shed a couple of tears. "What you're doing now is fixing up the mess Eggman made, not you. You were just caught in the wrong place. You know how sneaky that creep is. Everybody will still be there for you, and I'll never stop loving you, even in a million years."

Relief and happiness washed over him and while he still felt responsible for the mess that has happened, and still held the fear of the beast inside Sun, Sonic smiled emotionally as the weight and fear of rejection was lifted from his shoulders, and from his heart.

"Thanks, Amy. That...really means a lot to me." The blue hedgehog muttered, and flinched slightly as the pink hedgehog hugged him, but it wasn't her usual fan-girl hug he still wasn't used to even though he should be. It was...soft and warm and...comforting. So much so that he didn't resist in returning it, only for both of them to hear the door open and to their surprise, a sheepish but emotional Tails, a twice as emotional Chip, and even Sun, who looked a bit annoyed but somewhat relieved as well all entered.

"Uh...how long have you guys been listening?" Sonic asked, feeling rather embarrassed.

"**We've heard the whole thing. It was the pipsqueak's idea.**" Sun answered, shaking his head but held a slightly smug smirk over the scene, and was glad that Sonic didn't have to face rejection at all.

"Sorry, Sonic. I tried to stop them, but uh...well, the thing is I was really worried about you, too." Tails apologetically scratched the back of his head.

"But I was right! I knew Amy would forgive you. You don't have anything to worry about." Chip perked up happily, flying over to the two hedgehogs.

Amy giggled, "See? Even your new friend knew me a bit more."

"And another thing, she's right." The two-tailed fox added, as he and Sun walked over to them. "We'll always be there for you, big bro. 'Cause I don't wanna leave you ever."

"While I still don't remember who I am, I'm more than happy to be your friend, Sonic." The pixie added.

"**We might still have our odds and I still have no idea who I am, and I still haven't got my memories back either, but I'm kind of starting to like this crazy journey. Being stuck as Werehog at night, two stupidly crazy bad guys on the loose, and the world in pieces aside.**" The Werehog shrugged, his arms folded to his chest.

That nearly brought Sonic to tears, as the blue hedgehog beamed at his friends. "Aw, you guys...What the heck? Let's have a group hug."

That made most of them beam happily while Sun blinked before shrugging again, and as the two hedgehogs jumped off the bed, Sonic was embraced by Amy, Tails, Chip and even Sun who was bit more hesitant, but grudgingly did so, and the blue hedgehog welcomed the pleasant, warm and happy feeling.

'_Guys...all of you and everybody else mean so much to me. I love you all._' Sonic thought, wanting to bring all four of his many friends closer to him.

While he still had a long way to go if he could ever make up for not paying attention, and the blue hedgehog had a feeling that this guilt will last for a very long time, the fact that his friends had forgiven him and wanted to stay by his side even though he still tended on going on solo adventures, was more than enough to help regain some of his confidence.

Sonic was going to save the world, and help his two new friends to get their memories back. Yet what they didn't know that there was much more to Sun than even the dark-blue hedgehog cursed to be a Werehog at night was aware of.

* * *

**A/N: Slightly shorter chapter, and I still suck at battle scenes, but I'd stay that this was a pretty emotional chapter. Sonic and his friends are about to embark towards the next continent in the next chapter.**

**See you later!**


	11. Chapter 11: Not Yeti Ready

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay of this story again. I know that neither of my Sonic stories have been progressing well lately and 2020 is really taking a toll on pretty much everyone. Anyway, here's another long awaited chapter.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. The franchise belongs to Sega. I only own Sun the Hedgehog and Kaiser the Myth Hunter.**

* * *

_Chapter 11: Not Yeti Ready._

The next morning, after having breakfast and then bidding Amy, who had been amazed by how Sun looked so much like Sonic after the transformation from Werehog to Hedgehog, and Professor Pickle goodbye for the time being until they got back from Holoska, Sonic, Chip, Sun and Tails once again took flight in the youngest Mobian's plane where they took to the skies. Even though the teenage hero still felt guilt over what's happened, and fear of the beast inside of his rival-turned-friend, Sonic felt a lot better after last night's emotional episodes.

While he could've just sat in the passenger seat as Sun and Chip were with Tails flying, the blue hedgehog was more than content to keep on standing on the Tornado 1's wing, enjoying the breeze that crossed his face and quills, and while he still felt terrible and horrified over the planet's current condition, Sonic focused on the blue skies and enjoying the ride.

Or at least he would've if Eggman's flying robots hadn't been trying to down them. Fortunately, Sonic and Tails took care of those even though they and their two new friends almost crashed, but luckily, they managed to hover over the continent of their destination which resembled to Alaska and the North Pole.

"Sonic, I think I'm gonna need to find a safer place to land and see for a few repairs. If I land around here, we're as good as stuck in Holoska for the rest of our lives!" Tails announced once things had calmed down, his ears drooping in disappointment, more to himself as he hadn't even seen this coming.

"Hey, don't worry about it, little buddy. Sun, Chip and I can jump and head over to the Temple on foot. You go see to the repairs and be careful, 'kay?" Sonic reassured, giving his best friend his trademark thumbs up and wink, which lifted the young fox's spirits up a little.

"W-wait, when you say jump, you mean...from this height!?" Chip exclaimed in wide-eyed disbelief, looking at the teenage hedgehog as though he was crazy.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Sun asked, also thinking that Sonic has simply lost his mind.

The cobalt teenager shrugged, "Not the first time this happened. Worse case scenario is that we just have a headache and a bit of a frost bite if we crash land in the nice, soft but freezing snow."

The dark-blue hedgehog sweat dropped with a skeptical brow raised. "Don't you mean the best case scenario?"

"Nope! The best case scenario is we land in the nice, soft but freezing snow without landing head first and halfway deep!" Sonic laughed optimistically. "Trust me, I've lost count of how many times I've landed half buried in the ground; whether it's the beach or in a forest or just dirt all together. Most of those times, it was all Eggman's fault."

Sun thought about on what Sonic told him, before his mind flashed back to his own unexpected, and humiliating, crash landing on the first day of their adventure together, back when his earliest memories so far was being a Werehog.

_The Werehog fell further away and screamed himself and crash landed just over a cliff and onto the sand half way with his legs sticking out. On the beach just below the cliff, the Werehog, briefly unconscious, finally woke up and swung around his legs until his arms were free, and he was able to pull himself out after a couple of struggles. The beast stumbled a bit and groaned, holding his head._

"...I see your point." Sun grumbled, folding his arms.

"Be careful guys. The storms pretty thick, and I can't fly any further in." Tails warned.

"Right. You be careful too. We'll see ya later!" Sonic told him, and ignoring Chip's rant that they were going to die, the blue hedgehog grabbed hold of him as best as possible, while Sun stood up from his seat, and with a nod, though the darker hedgehog was slightly hesitant, the little pixie-dog was quivering like a leaf, and with the fifteen year old Mobian giving the two-tailed kit a two finger salute, the trio jumped off the plane and descended down towards the snow.

The three companions landed safely in the snow. Or at least, Sonic did with Chip in his arms. The blue hedgehog landed safely in the soft ground, but shuddered as the icy artic blast of wind blew against his entire body, hugging both his smallest friend and himself against the cold. Sun in the meantime unfortunately, ended up losing his position and screamed before landing face first into the snow the same way Sonic would sometimes end up when it comes to crash landings.

"_Brr!_ I-it's c-colder here than i-it is at the I-Ice Cap Z-Zone!" Sonic shivered, his teeth chittering.

"It's f-freezing!" Chip exclaimed, shivering more violently against the cold than his friend was despite being in the blue hedgehog's arms which provided some warmth.

Sun pulled his face out of the snow and yelped as an even bigger icy gust swept through, quickly leaping to his feet and hugged himself, shivering before grumbling. "I-I think I preferred to have l-landed o-on a b-beach! At least then I-I wouldn't be turning into a popsicle!"

"We should get going before we all turn into popsicles." The teenage hero of Mobius advised. "I wouldn't wanna be a frozen hedgehog here."

"Do we even have a clue where the Gaia Temple is?" The dark-blue hedgehog asked skeptically. "For all we know, it'll take us a week to get there, and we're in the middle of a blizzard."

"Well, we won't know if we stand around here and freeze." Sonic pointed out with a smirk, holding Chip in one arm and taking Sun's hand with his free one. "The faster we get somewhere, the better."

Knowing instantly what this meant, the dark-blue hedgehog groaned in dismay. "Why meeeeeeee-aaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

He screamed the moment he was pulled along with Sonic who immediately ran into the best direction he picked towards where they needed to be, and hopefully somewhere to warm themselves up before they continued their journey to find the next Temple of Gaia.

* * *

It hadn't taken long for Sonic and his friends to reach their destination which thankfully wasn't that far to find, though they still had to find the Temple of Gaia. In fact, it might've probably taken three days in normal pace from where they landed, but for the fastest thing alive, it was only half an hour. Because by the time the cobalt hedgehog skid to a stop, they were already at the entrance of an oddly quaint but nice looking village.

It was rather small, populated with humans in a small family group, all rugged up in warm winter-all-year-round coats, and everybody's homes were all igloos.

"I can't believe people here live in all of these ice blocks. How can they stand it?" Sun asked, once he recovered from his unexpected ride from his fellow hedgehog companion.

"Once you were born and pretty much live your whole life in one single place, people tend to learn how to live in certain enviroments growing up." Sonic explained proudly.

"What about you, Sonic?" Chip asked, curiously.

The blue hero shrugged. "I grew up on South Island since I was born there, in Green Hill Zone. Started my worldly travels after my very first adventure in kicking Eggman's butt."

The dark-blue hedgehog couldn't help but snort in amusement, "I'm gonna go off the limb here and say that it was when you first called him Ro-butt-nik."

"Bingo!" Sonic replied happily. "You just became today's winner of the _'What was Eggman First called?'_ Contest!" He added jokingly.

"Why did you first call him Ro-butt-nik, Sonic? I thought he was always Eggman?" The little pixie asked, puzzled as Tails didn't mention anything to him about that.

"Oh, right. Guess I kinda didn't mention it to you when I told you guys how Amy wrecked Egghead's robot yesterday." Sonic sheepishly rubbed the side of his face, his muzzle turning slightly pink of embarrassment, before explaining briefly. "See, his real name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but when we first met, I used to call him Ro-butt-nik, or just Buttnik for short. But after a while, when he first released Chaos, I kinda grew tired of calling him those two names and decided to start taunting him by the fact that he's shaped like a giant talking egg and called him Eggman. Funny thing is, he's gotten so used to it by now he's officially changed his name to just being Dr. Eggman for life."

"Well, at least you can still taunt him by calling him Egghead." Sun shrugged.

"Oh, believe me, Sun. I still call him by many names that starts with an egg. Eggster, Eggy, Egg-Brain, that sort of thing." The fifteen year old replied smugly. "Plus, he mostly names most of his toys or fantasy empire after eggs anyway."

"For an evil scientist, he's seriously unimaginative when it comes to naming things." His rival said dryly.

"Unimaginative and dumb." Chip added.

"Unimaginative, dumb and lame." Sonic nodded in agreement. He and his two companions shared a laugh which faded as the teenager then gestured them. "C'mon. Let's go find that Temple. I bet the people around here know where it is."

However, just before the trio were about to fully enter the village, there was a sudden monstrous air that filled the air that made them stop in their tracks, and pretty much everyone stop what they were doing. It echoed through the chilly air as, while it was only lightly snowing in this area since Sonic, Sun and Chip made it out of the worst of the blizzard, sounded pretty loud but distant, yet it was pretty close the louder it got. The villagers, looking all friendly and happy just moments ago, now looked fearful and began shivering not in the cold, but in fear, which to the travelers, it was odd considering it was still daytime.

"What-?" Chip began, nervously.

"Shh..." Sonic shushed him, whispering, quickly on high alert as he tried to listen for where the noise was coming from. "Keep it down."

"Now what?" Sun whispered in annoyance as he too became alert.

Near them, was a man who was shaking near a pile of lumber, trying not to drop any he was carrying despite that how terrified he looked. He was almost as pale as the snow as he whined in fear. "Oh no...Not again."

'_Again? What again?_' The blue hedgehog to himself, wondering what was it that got everybody so scared. Could it be one of Eggman's robots from the last week? That seemed logical. If that was the case, then it's related to what's happened to the world. That instantly placed guilt into the pit of Sonic's stomach, but he tried not to let it get to him and instead braced himself for another robot butt kicking fight.

On the other hand, the roar didn't sound like one of the evil doctor's toys, unless he designed one after-

Sonic's thoughts were cut off when charging from out of nowhere and passing by the village of igloos with some already getting damaged, was a huge monster about 25 or maybe 32 feet tall, roaring like mad, with the villagers already frozen in their place-no pun intended-and didn't dare to move. It stopped in the middle of the village that wasn't that far from where the blue hedgehog and his friends were as they too didn't move, too shocked, and in Chip's case, terrified, to even do so as they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

It looked a bit like Sun's Werehog form in build, but it lacked shoes, the hands were human like but with sharp nails, it had the head of an ape with thick fur like an aging man's long white hair and long beard, sharp teeth and black void-like eyes. People screamed but again, no one moved.

"Whoa!" Sonic yelped with a nervous sweat drop, his eyes wide with a scared expression of his own. "An Abominable Snowman! I thought those things were just stories."

Sun held a total look of disbelief and bewilderment, almost falling over in shock as his mouth was gaped open, almost speechless. "Y-You've gotta be kidding me!"

"An Abo-what Snowman?" Chip asked, shaking like a leaf as his heart stopped for a second or two. Monsters that were seemingly related to Dark Gaia, and Sun's Werehog form were bad enough, now this white hairy thing?

"Everyone. Do. Not. Move. Remember, the Yeti can pick up our movement." Another man, appearing in his mid thirties, whispered to the citizens, the two hedgehogs and the little pixie who, not knowing what else to do even though Sonic felt the need to move and drive this monster away, didn't move at all as the Yeti leered around for any movement of anyone and anything.

No one moved even as the cobalt young hero really wanted to move, feeling himself twitch and fidget while trying to stop himself from doing so since standing still was never his thing. Good news is, what suddenly alerted the Yeti wasn't the fifteen year old hedgehog.

Bad news is, it was the man who was holding the pile of wood in his arms, as his arms unconsciously fell to his sides with a terrified expression, too late to realize as the lumber fell freely onto the pile of snow and cluttered onto each other, causing the snow beast to turn sharply towards the sound and movement, glaring at the man. His eyes widened as he realized that he accidentally did this, while the Yeti roared and everyone flinched, before the citizens, and even Sun all glared at him, though Sonic and Chip both flinched before the former facepalmed himself.

"It was an accident." The unfortunate man squeaked apologetically with a nervous shrug.

"Way to go, ice man." Sun congratulated in heavy sarcasm, rolling his eyes in irritation.

The Yeti then charged straight towards the people who, left with no other choice, ran out of the way as it began smashing crates and scattering piles of lumber all over the place. The citizens screamed in terror as the snow monster stomped towards the man who accidentally alerted it. Sonic wasted no time in using his speed to move the man out of the way while Chip screamed in terror himself, and he and Sun, who flinched, jumped back to avoid the Yeti's wrath.

"You okay?" The blue hedgehog asked the terrified villager who whimpered but nodded. He then winked at the man with a thumbs up and smirk, "Don't worry. Leave him to me!"

Sonic stood up before dashing off quickly to face and battle the Yeti who was on a rampage as it attempted to grab hold of anyone it could reach. Sun, seeing this and while not having the same speed as the blue hedgehog, raced over to help. The teenage hero saw a young girl who was cornered by the monster, whimpering in fear and calling out for her mother. Sonic dashed by, scooping up the terrified child before the Yeti could even grab them both. He then set the child near a safe corner with other people who were attempting to hide near a still intact igloo.

"Mommy!" The little girl cried as she noticed her mother who, much to her relief, hugged her as the child began to cry in relief and fear.

"My baby!" The woman sobbed in relief, holding her distraught daughter in her arms, before gazing gratefully at the heroic hedgehog. "Thank you."

"No problem, ma'am." Sonic replied with a thumbs up, before dashing back towards the Yeti who was now about to target another man while Sun only had enough time to direct two other people into another igloo, before the fifteen year old skid to a stop and called out to the monster. "Hey, Snowball! Over here!"

That got the Yeti's attention, as it paused in what it was doing, before slowly turning to face the teenager who stood there confidently with a smirk, looking forward in teaching the snow beast a lesson. "I don't know what your problem is, pal, but I don't like it when people get hurt by creeps like you. How 'bout you pick on somebody who can fight back?"

"_RWWWAAAAAARRRR!_" The Yeti roared loudly, charging straight towards Sonic who waited, before leaping out of the way at the last second when the monster attempted to whack him with a thrust of it's arm. He then Spin Dashed into it's side hard, causing it to crash onto the ground without hitting anything. It roared in pain and in fury, before getting up and made to grab him. But again the blue hedgehog was too fast for it and he jumped.

"Come on, slow poke! I've faced robots faster than you!" Sonic taunted, laughing as he charged himself, zig-zagging in avoiding the arms that were attempted to either grab or punch him, before the blue hedgehog Homing Attacked the monster squarely into the chest, causing the monster to stumble back and fly backwards by the force of the Mobian no where near it's size, and yet was strong enough for it to be sent crashing into the snow, hitting a large rock close by.

Despite the pain in it's chest and back due to what happened, the Yeti growled before pushing itself up, roaring skyward which rocked the area that even made the young hero of Mobius jump slightly before recollecting himself, glaring hard with determination. The monster then made to attack again, picking up a large rock before tossing it straight towards Sonic who flinched at this.

"Incoming!" The blue hedgehog cried out to everyone who, hearing seeing and hearing this, moved out of the way as did he, all narrowly avoiding the boulder which smashed into an igloo which crumbled and shattered, much to an elderly man's dismay, making Sonic wince when he saw the damage.

"My house!" The old man wailed, falling onto his knees as he sobbed. "I just had it rebuilt last year!"

"Uh oh. Hope it wasn't too expensive to fix." The fifteen year old hero muttered worriedly with a sweat drop, feeling sorry for the guy. He turned back to the Yeti, now angry with the severe damage and grunted. "You'd better pay for that, you over-sized Snow Cone!"

The Yeti just roared in response before tossing other random smaller but still large rocks, forcing Sonic to smash them with his karate kicks and punches, and then he charged himself again while dodging each throw, leaping high into the air before Homing Attacked on the face so fast that the monster couldn't catch him, forcing it into the snow once again and the blue hedgehog purposely stomped right onto the back of the head, the soles of his shoes shoving the Yeti's face deeper into the cold icy ground.

Sonic then quickly somersaulted up and away into a safe distance, landing expertly before standing in defense. To his shock and everyone else's horror, the Yeti wasn't quite finished yet, as it growled despite it's injuries done by the young hedgehog, before it pushed itself up and snarled furiously at the teenage Mobian, standing up while hissing in pain, then roared loudly once more. However, Sun, who had been trying to get into the battle to help out, only being able to get a few people away from the battle scene and feeling a bit out of sorts for being left out of the battle again, raced up before leaping high and punched the monster squarely in the face in a similar way Knuckles would. The Yeti roared and stumbled before the dark-blue hedgehog gave it several more punches which forced it to crash into another work, then he jumped and raced over to Sonic who let out an impressed whistle.

"You could've left me some of the action." Sun couldn't help but grumble.

"Sorry. Had to stop this guy fast." The blue hedgehog shrugged sheepishly. By then, Chip, believing that the fight was over as the Yeti seemed to be too exhausted to continue fighting and rested a hand onto it's head, flew over to his two hedgehog friends in relief.

"You really showed that Abo-whatever Snowman Yeti guy a lesson, Sonic, with Sun giving him a real knuckle-sandwich!" The little pixie celebrated happily, to which Sonic gave his friend a thumbs up and a wink while Sun just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Thanks, Chip. But We're not out of the woods yet." Sonic said with caution, only to gasp in shock when Chip didn't hear him and had already brought out his camera to take a photo of the seemingly defeated Yeti, which Sun knocked and flinched in horrified realization.

"I gotta take a photo of this!" Chip exclaimed, only for both Sonic and Sun to grab hold of him and the camera to stop him from doing so, much to his confusion. "Wha-what gives!?"

"AH! Bad idea, Chip!" Sonic warned in panic, remembering the last time his friend took a photo back at Spagonia which caused the monsters to form from the possessed dancers.

"The last time you did that, you almost got us killed!" Sun scolded.

Chip, hearing this and almost instantly remembering how the last time he took a photo did almost gotten himself and his two friends killed, froze and gulped nervously. He looked at both hedgehogs sheepishly and apologetically for having that slip from his mind. He muttered an apology, only to yelp as he, Sonic and Sun then heard the Yeti growl again, and when the trio looked up, as did everyone else who all gasped in horror, the monster had stood up and was now charging straight towards them.

"Man, this is one stubborn monster!" Sonic exclaimed, quickly standing in front of Chip, holding out an arm protectively to shield the pixie as did Sun who stood ready. "Quick, Chip! Hide!"

"AAAAAHHHHH! He's gonna eat us!" Chip screamed out hysterically, figuratively frozen in mid-air as his body refused to listen to him or heed the teenage hedgehog's command. The only thing he could do was cover his eyes and braced himself, while Sonic and Sun grunted and prepared themselves to continue the fight.

But what no one had even noticed was that the green orb on the little pixie-dog's necklace began to glow in warm, green light, the same way it did when it's mysterious power rose the pillar inside the Temple of Gaia in Mazuri. When it glowed a bit brighter, it was then that Sonic and everybody else except for Chip noticed and gaped in confusion and awe and to make things more strange, the Yeti stopped in it's tracks upon seeing the light and it hissed at the blinding light, being forced to shield it's eyes with it's clawed hand.

"Chip! Your necklace is glowing!" Sonic cried out, pointing at the orb which made the aforementioned pixie hesitantly lower his hands and, seeing what was going on, noticed as well and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"Whoa! You're right, Sonic! What's going on?" Chip exclaimed, bewildered.

"Uh, guys?" Sun muttered, a bit dumbfounded as he noticed something else odd; the Yeti lowered it's hand slowly and just stood there. When Sonic and Chip looked up to see, they noticed that the monster strangely didn't have it's hostile expression, and while it still looked dangerous, it gazed at them now with a seemingly confused expresion.

Or mainly at Chip who gulped and hidden himself partially behind Sonic who quickly stood in position to protect his friend from the threat. The Yeti eyed the small Mobian, before turning it's gaze to the blue hedgehog with a thoughtful frown, and then at the dark-blue hedgehog who stood in defense. Then, much to the bewilderment of everyone in the village, the snow beast simply turned and then ran off, passing by the humans who leaned back, fearing that it could attack them and Sonic was about to follow. But it just ran away without harming anyone or causing anymore damage.

"What the...?" Sonic muttered softly, now really puzzled.

"Uuuuuhhhhh..." Sun murmured, dumbfounded. "Can somebody please explain to me what just happened?"

"I wish I knew." The blue hedgehog replied, just as clueless. By then, Chip's necklace stopped glowing which the trio noticed and were even more confused.

"That was just...really crazy." Chip muttered, unable to believe what just happened himself. "I can't remember if this always happened or not!"

Even though Sonic wanted to know the answer of this latest mystery, he decided to worry about that later as the villagers began to slowly move away from their hiding positions, before asking the crowd. "Everybody okay?"

The citizens all replied that they were fine and thanked the young hero and his friends for saving them. The little girl that he rescued earlier ran up to him happily, and gave the blue hedgehog a hug which caught him by surprise. Thankfully it wasn't anything like how Amy would nearly knock him over or squeeze him, but it was still unexpected.

"That was great! Thank you for saving me, Mr...Um..." The little girl trailed off, feeling embarrassed for not knowing his name.

"Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic introduced himself, adding. "And you're welcome, kid. I'm glad that you're okay."

"You and your friends were so cool, Mr. Sonic! You saved us!" The girl squealed happily, nuzzling her hooded head on top of the teenager's which made him laugh at the tickling sensation. Chip chuckled at the cute scene and to Sonic's embarrassment, the pixie took a photo, while Sun shook his head once more.

"Awwwwwww..." The crowd all murmured at the scene, which made the teenage Mobian blush in further embarrassment. Thankfully, the girl then let go, much to his relief as he cleared his throat to try and stop himself from looking sheepish, before introducing his two companions and the people once again thanked the trio.

"Hey, sorry about your village. Did what we could to drive off that Abominable Snowman and stop him from hurting everyone." Sonic announced apologetically, once he, Chip and Sun then noticed the damage the Yeti had caused and left behind.

"Please, Mr. Sonic. There's no need to apologize." The girl's mother, who had approached with a kind smile and in gratitude. "What you did prevented our home from needing to be fully rebuild for the umpteenth time in many years."

"Huh? Really?" The blue hedgehog asked, surprised as he, Sun and Chip hadn't expected to hear that.

The woman nodded, "Yes, unfortunately. We wish to thank you for saving us all and having saved our village from complete destruction."

The words complete destruction unfortunately made Sonic think back of how the world ended up split apart, the destruction caused by Eggman who had trapped the heroic hedgehog and used him and the Chaos Emeralds to cause this mess. The fifteen year old's heart sank, knowing that despite his friends' full support last night at Spagonia, he was partially, if not fully responsible for the near destruction of the entire planet. Now that he thought about it, how could anyone be thanking him for saving them from things like a Yeti, when he couldn't prevent the evil scientist from doing all of this?

His stomach twisted into a knot in unbearable guilt, and suddenly he didn't feel like he deserved a hero's welcome or gratitude from these people who apparently already had enough problems with a snow monster terrorizing their town. Plus, given how the old guy just lost his home again after having it rebuilt from last year's attack, it made the teenager feel even worse. Then quickly realizing that he was slowly or quickly becoming miserable again, the blue hedgehog mentally swallowed and forced himself to not think about that, and instead focused on the present.

"Hey, it's what I do. No reason at all." Sonic replied, scratching his head with a smile. "Plus, I had help from these guys."

"You did most of the work." Sun pointed out, skeptically.

"I didn't do anything at all." Chip added, shrugging. "I don't even know why my necklace glowed like that. Or at least I don't remember anything much about it at all."

"You can't remember?" The woman's daughter asked, shocked and with sympathy, as were her mother and everybody else.

"We're both suffering from amnesia. Neither of us remember even our real names, so Sonic here called this little guy Chip and me Sun." Sun replied, shrugging.

"I'm helping them to figure out how to get their memories back, and, well, there's actually a main reason why we came here today, even though we didn't expect to see a giant snow monster terrorizing your home." The aforementioned blue hedgehog explained.

"Perhaps I can help." The girl's mother kindly offered, causing the trio to gaze up at her. "Think of it as our gratitude for saving us all, and we can discuss over some soup."

"Really!? Yeah, alright! Some nice, warm, hot, steamy soup in Holoska! Yeah!" Chip cheered happily, flying around which made the little girl giggle, and Sun rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Don't you need help in cleaning up the mess the monster made?" Sonic asked, shrugging. "We can help with that."

The woman shook her head with a kind smile, one that reminded the teenage Mobian of how Cream's Mother Vanilla would look. "You three did more than enough. We are capable of fixing up our home."

"Kinda makes me feel bad for not helping, though." The fifteen year old muttered, feeling uncomfortable to leave these people to fix up the damage the Yeti made. He liked helping others when it felt really necessary. Plus, given what's happened, it also gave him some bit of an illusion of atoning for these people had gone through with Mobians being in pieces, slowly being put back together.

"Aw, it's okay, Mr. Sonic." The little girl reassured, taking hold of Sonic's hand to tug him along, adding. "And you all need to warm you. You're gonna get really cold. My Mommy makes the best soup in Holoska."

"Please." Sonic half-whispered, almost begging as he gently resisted the pull. "I really appreciate the offer, but I can't just sit around doing nothing when everybody still need my help. I don't mind, really."

"Are you sure?" The woman asked, surprised by the teenager's request to keep helping by helping to fix up the mess. Sonic and even Chip nodded, while Sun looked a bit hesitant, but in the end knew it was two against one and decided not to argue. She and her daughter smiled, as did everyone else. "Thank you."

She then turned her attention to the man who had accidentally alerted the Yeti, "And you. You know better than to carry wood and not control your fear when the Yeti comes."

"Sorry, ma'am." The man muttered guiltily, and cringed nervously when almost everyone else in the village all glared at him. He smiled sheepishly.

"This is the second time in two years you alerted that thing! Just look at my house!" The old man from earlier shout angrily, pointing at the ruins of his home. "Now I'm stuck with my cousin for another year-again!"

Sonic cringed at the anger of the man's tone, feeling just as guilty for having let the Yeti toss the boulder which smashed it and now felt fully responsible. He was about to make his apology when the old man angrily turned his gaze to the blue hedgehog which made him flinch in fright, shocked at how furious he was.

"And YOU! I don't care if you have saved our lives, hedgehog! I want you and your friends OUT of our village and go back to where you came from! NOW!" The old man shouted, glaring hard as everyone stared at him in shock. "Every time we have visitors, something happens! I say we make a vote and border up Holoska! I'm through with outsiders!"

The blue hedgehog was left speechless, his pride stung hard, his heart hammering as his fears from what Mnyambo's people would reacted with Sun, now was becoming a reality for a very different reason. He was shaking, and not because of the cold weather, but the heated hatred despite having done the right thing.

"I-"

"GET OUT! NOW!" The old man practically screamed in anger, picking up a piece of wood, making to toss it at Sonic, Sun and Chip, the latter two bewildered at the man's behavior. The man threw it at the blue hedgehog's chest, causing him to stumble over and hit the ground, not having the heart to even dodge or move.

"SONIC!" Chip cried out worriedly as he, the little girl, her mother, and even a few other people raced over to the now distraught teenager's aid, while other people then turned their attention to the old man with looks of disbelief.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean-" Sonic tried again, but was cut off for the third time.

"Sorry's not good enough!" The old man hissed furiously. "_**GET!**_ _**OUT!**_"

"Okay! Okay! We're going!" Sonic exclaimed, stumbling to standing up, quickly asking. "We just wanna find out where the Temple of Gaia is to solve another huge problem and-"

"NO! NO EXCUSES! _**JUST GET OUT AND STAY AWAY FOREVER!**_" The old man screamed, scaring Sonic who felt weak in the legs, his heart breaking over this, unable to believe that he'd just failed. Failed in restoring the world, all because of what happened here. Chip screamed in fright and hidden himself behind the devastated cobalt hero, his resolve starting to crumble.

"Seriously, what's your problem? We just saved this village from a mutant snowman, and this is how you thank us?" Sun grunted, really angry with the treatment the old guy was giving. "You need to work on your anger management, old man."

"Sun, don't." Sonic pleaded, placing a hand onto his rival-turned-friend's shoulder, making the dark-blue hedgehog glance at him. " Don't make things any worse. We'll have to find another way to the Temple later. Let's wait for Tails and go back to Spagonia. I'm sure Professor Pickle can lead us to another one somewhere."

"YOU'RE NOT WELCOME BACK TO HOLOSKA!" The old man screamed once more, scaring the trio even more, before he turned to the villagers. "Listen, everyone! These boys are more trouble than the Yeti! They need to be punished for invading our home!"

Sonic and Chip both gasped, before the former quickly stood in front of the latter and the even more shocked Sun while leaning back in fear, unable to believe that this was happening. It was really happening. People of a foreign place were really going to prevent visitors from coming due to what's happened.

"Please...! We don't want to be any trouble." Sonic softly pleaded.

"STOP IT!" The little girl screamed at the old man, her voice echoing through out the area. She glared up tearfully at him, unable to believe just how cruel he was. "You should be ashamed! Mr. Sonic didn't do anything wrong! You're hurting him and his friends!"

"Ayla is absolutely right, Joseph." The girl's mother agreed sternly. "You are blaming a young teenager who has saved us with the aid of his friends. Yes, Joe has made a mistake again, but there is no need to blame someone who clearly has a strong heart. It is the Yeti who has caused your home to be destroyed, as it always has. What happened today was no different."

"**HE COULD'VE AT LEAST PREVENTED IT!**" The old man, Joseph, pointed out, and Sonic felt a huge stab of guilt in his entire torso, like a giant sword plunging straight through. "I'm sick of having to rebuild my house ever since the Yeti has started to terrorize our village! This is the last straw!"

"I'M SORRY!" Sonic cried out, collapsing onto his knees and was unable to hold back his emotions anymore. "You're right. It's my fault. I'm so sorry that your home was destroyed. I should've prevented it. I'll leave. Just...just let the three of us find the Temple, please."

"JUST GET OUT!" Joseph screamed, only to be grabbed by two men who held him roughly by the arms and began to drag him away. "GET OFF ME! I'm a villager!"

"That's it! We've had it with your attitude, Joseph!" One of the men grunted angrily. "You've really crossed the line with your stupid superstitions."

"The whole village is tired of your hatred and selfishness, so if anyone's going to leave and never return, it's you!" The other man agreed, and there was the chorus of utter agreement from the rest of the villagers, which stunned Sonic who looked up hesitantly as he, Chip and Sun glanced around.

The woman stormed up to Joseph and glared at him. "Joseph, for 30 years, you have always treated visitors like it is an invasion. For five years, ever since the Yeti first came, you have only gotten worse. All you ever cared about was your home, never bothering to help rebuild anyone else's and even then, you hardly even rebuild your house. You bark orders as though you are the leader. This is exactly why you were never voted as such."

"It's bad luck for a woman to be a leader." Joseph growled. "You are far too kind for your own good, Sierra."

"And you are far too cruel for your own good." Sierra, the woman, growled back angrily. "You leave me with no choice but to banish you from Holoska, for the rest of your life."

"You can't do this!" The old man shouted, horrified upon hearing these words. He gestured at Joe with his head. "Banish him! He's clumsy!"

Sierra ignored the protest, and told the two men that was holding their prisoner, "Get him out of our sight. Help him pack his bags, and make sure he's taken to another village where the hospital will deal with him."

"Yes, ma'am." The two men immediately agreed wholeheartedly, and began pulling and dragging the protesting old man away with everyone else watching and the villagers glaring at him, and the little girl, Ayla, giving Joseph a raspberry.

"That big bully." Ayla muttered, turning her attention to a shocked Sonic before she approached him worriedly. "Are you okay, Mr. Sonic?"

"Uh...Y-yeah. I'm fine." The blue hedgehog muttered, feeling even worse despite that he stopped himself from breaking down. He hesitantly faced everyone who turned their attention to him. "I-I'm truly, deeply sorry. Look, if you want me to leave, I'll leave."

Sonic slowly stood up and began to walk away back to the entrance, gesturing both Chip and Sun to follow him. "Let's go, guys."

"Wait, Mr. Sonic." Another man, about in his mid forties, gently called back, making Sonic pause in his steps. "It's as Ayla says, you didn't do anything wrong. You and your friends have saved us, and prevented our village from being completely destroyed. In fact, you prevented anyone from being kidnapped this year. Last time this happened was two years ago."

"And the Yeti only comes by once every year, even without kidnapping anyone." Another man added.

"You don't have to apologize, Sonic." Sierra added kindly as she approached the young Mobian who slowly turned around with a hesitant expression. "If you wish, you're more than welcome to help, and please, feel free to come and visit and stay as long as you want. Same goes for your friends as well. You can even invite your other friends."

"Are you sure?" Sonic asked, nervously. The woman nodded, before her daughter went up to him and gave the teenager a comforting hug which surprised him again before he noticed tears leaking from her very young eyes.

"We're sorry, Mr. Sonic." Ayla sniffled. "We didn't mean to hurt you."

Sonic's heart ached at just how someone so young could apologize for something that she didn't do, and he smiled softly before gently hugging her back, both to comfort her and welcome the kindness as well.

"It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong, either. Thanks." He whispered.

It warmed the villagers' hearts at the scene, while Chip sniffled as he began to bawl his eyes out, before taking out a handkerchief from nowhere and blew his nose, and Sun felt a few heart-strings tug painfully. It peeved him that one old, cranky guy could blame Sonic for something that he didn't do, and then he thought back to how he blamed his fellow hedgehog for what's happened when the fifteen year old had only been trying to prevent it. In this case, he saved the village with a little bit of his help and Chip's necklace, and while some damage had already been made, it wasn't like it was completely destroyed, and no lives were either kidnapped or lost, and one man had the nerve to play the blame game.

'_The lady's right. Sonic does have a strong heart. That's why he didn't get turned into a Werehog like I did at night. He's mentally too strong for that._' The dark-blue hedgehog thought to himself, very relieved that it had been him, and not Sonic, to be cursed by Dark Gaia's influence.

* * *

After the heated accusement from the old man, Sonic, Sun and Chip helped the villagers to clean up the mess and fix up the damage as much as possible, as everyone was more than grateful for his heroics, before the most of it was done and the villagers thanked them again, saying that they can handle the rest after an hour, before trio followed Sierra and her daughter into the largest Igloo the teenager has ever seen in his entire life. It was shaped like an oval house and was the size of one as well.

Stepping inside, it was just as homey on the inside as it was on the inside. It had a lot more stuff than anyone outside of this village could ever imagine. It actually had rooms and hallways that lead into two separate bedrooms, comfy looking seats with a small table that was used as a dining table, cushions used as seats, a kitchen with a large pot with ingredients to make soup, and other warm liquids all year around, everything.

Even the living room was comfy looking. To say the least, Sonic, Chip and even Sun were impressed with this place. It was even nice and warm, and after being out in the cold weather since arriving, they really felt chilled.

"In all the events that's happened, I forgot to introduce ourselves." Sierra suddenly remembered while she and her daughter lead the trio over to the table. "My name is Sierra. I'm the leader of our village."

"I'm Ayla!" Ayla, added excitedly, taking off her coat and revealing that she was wearing a nice lavender warm thick dress with warm pants underneath, dark boots which she took off and slipped on warm winter indoor boots, and her dark hair went down to the upper part of her back. She was no older than six years old.

Sierra, taking off her coat, wore a deep opal green long dress with dark pants and boots, her hair matching that of her daughter's, and she looked to be in her very early thirties, but beautiful no less. She then gestured to the trio after they gave their friendly greetings, "Please, make yourselves at home while I prepare the soup."

She turned to her child and gestured, "Ayla, will you help me in the kitchen?"

"Yes, mommy!" Ayla nodded happily, waving a quick goodbye to the Mobians before following her mother into the kitchen. Sonic, Chip and Sun settled into their selected seats at the table and waited, even though the blue hedgehog couldn't help but sigh, placing his arms onto the table and rested his head onto them.

"I have to admit, this place is nice, considering that it's an igloo." Sun commented, resting his elbow onto the table as his head rested onto his palm.

"I really like it! It's nice, and warm, and cosy, and-" Chip said happily, looking all around, and continued saying on how he really liked the place.

Sonic didn't pay attention. While he did agree that it was the nicest igloo he'd ever seen, the teenage Mobian couldn't stop feeling useless right now. Yes he had saved the villagers and most parts of their home from the Yeti, the fact that Joseph had blamed him for something he tried to made him feel terrible. Sonic the Hedgehog, the hero of Mobius, and yet he had no idea about any of this. Not to mention that Chip's necklace somehow tamed the monster which made him think that it was Dark Gaia related, and that made him feel worse.

The blue hedgehog glanced over at the entrance to the village outside, wondering how Joseph was going to react in another village that could take weeks to get to.

'_Maybe this is what Mnyambo saw, or it's just me making a bigger mess than I already did._' Sonic thought miserably, looking away and resting his head onto his arms once more, closing his eyes with another sigh.

"Sonic?" Chip spoke up, noticing the blue hedgehog's silence.

"Hey, what's with you?" Sun asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry. I just feel awful." Sonic replied. "How can I be a hero if I made a total mess, and already there's one person who hates me for just being in his home? I should've even known that there'd been a snowman attack for the past five years. If I'd known a lot sooner, I would've prevented it from happening."

"It's not your fault. You were on another continent." Chip pointed out comfortingly, hovering over and patted his blue friend on the head, which made the teenage hedgehog smile sadly.

"He has a point." Sun agreed. "Seriously, Blue. Why do you take the blame over something that you didn't do, or were trying to stop?"

Sonic leaned up a bit, his smile fading. "Because I have to be the hero everybody wants. Plus, I hate letting people down. Not just my friends or family, but pretty much everybody on Mobius. Plus, the world is the only place we can call home. If Eggman takes it over and turns it into a giant floating iron ball with nothing but robots everywhere, then it's not a place to live or be free. It's a machine that'll eventually breakdown and just be a floating piece of junk heap for the rest of eternity. I feared in seeing such a thing ever since I saw the planet from high up in space for the very first time a few years ago."

The blue hedgehog leaned back a bit with his hands supporting him, gazing up at the icy block ceiling with a content smile on his muzzle at the memory. "It was when I was stopping him again, when Tails and I were on our very first adventure together. Seeing the world, all blue and green, and other colours, the sun shining upon it like it was glowing, it was the most beautiful view I've ever seen, and no matter how many times I'm up there, it keeps on gettng better. At least I think so. Seeing the world like it was, I loved it even more, and I still so."

"Wow...I wish I could see the world like that." The little pixie muttered in awe.

"I don't see why Eggman wants to change it to his liking." Sun stated with an raised eyebrow. "He seriously has no imagination. What'd he do, read too many Industrial Magazines growing up?"

Sonic shrugged, leaning up again. "He might've. Then again, he could've read so many bad magazines that he thought were great or good looking. C'mon, that guy's idea of fashion makes him look like a clown in a badly designed Ring Master's outfit."

That made both of his companions try hard not to laugh, with Chip covering his mouth with both hands, and Sun facepalming himself, the latter saying. "Yep. Eggman really has no imagination."

"Or tastes." Sonic chuckled in agreement, before becoming sullen a bit again, gazing at the table again, determination rising once more. "That's why I won't stop, until the world is saved, and I beat Eggman again. I'll keep fighting him for the world, and everybody's freedom. Forever if I have to."

"Don't you mean until he retires?" Chip asked curiously.

The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes. "Sorry, buddy. But Eggman will never retire. He's as stubborn as me."

"And stupid." The dark-blue hedgehog commented.

The conversation then came to a halt when Sierra and Ayla emerged from the kitchen with two trays, one with five mugs of steaming hot soup which, at the scent from it, the trio felt their mouths water and stomachs growl since it smelled delicious, and the other with two large plates with freshly baked loafs of bread. The two set them down onto the table.

"Here you go. Help yourselves." The kind leader of the village offered.

"You're gonna love 'em!" Ayla added.

"Hey, thanks." Sonic replied, wishing Tails was here to try some of this as both Chip and Sun said their thanks as well, before selecting their cups of soup. The fifteen year old blew at the hot liquid to avoid in burning himself before taking a small sip, and immediately he moaned in pure delight the moment it hit his taste spud. "Really tasty."

"I love it!" Chip exclaimed, after doing the same and drank more.

"Your Mom sure knows how to cook, kid. You're pretty lucky." Sun commented, finding himself enjoying the soup as well.

Sierra and Ayla both giggled as they took seats on the other side of the table and began having their meals as well, before the kind woman asked. "Sonic, if you don't mind me asking, you said that you were looking for this 'Temple of Gaia', yes?"

"Yep. We sure are." The blue hedgehog nodded, hesitating a little, before admitting. "Not sure if you noticed, but, well, it's very important to find it in order to set things right. See, this evil guy named Dr. Eggman did something really horrible, and he wants to take over the world. We think that he wants to destroy the Temples all around the world to stop us from stopping him."

"He sounds like an awful man." Ayla said, shocked and little bit scared.

"Yeah, he sure is. He's been trying to take over for four years now. Luckly, I'm always there to stop him no matter what he does." Sonic said, taking another cautious sip from his cup of soup.

"Hmm...There has been an earthquake recently that has broken the block that prevented anyone from entering where the ancient shrine is, which it may be the Temple of Gaia you're refering to." Sierra said thoughtfully. "Now that I think of it, some say that the Temple has a legend regards to our village, and the Yeti."

"Whaddya mean?" Sonic asked, curiously. "No offense, but I thought the Yeti didn't exist."

"It's understandable. Most outside of Holoska wouldn't. However, the Yeti have been said to exist for thousands of years, living in a cave which is one of the routes leading to the Shrine. Most wouldn't dare to enter, as they say that there were spooky happenings going on." The kind woman nodded.

"I've been into haunted houses filled with ghosts, and they never scared me much." The blue hedgehog commented, recalling his adventure with Tails and Knuckles on their three day quest to stop Metal Sonic, and how the red echidna had been really scared due to his fear of ghosts. Tails had been scared too, but not as much.

Chip flinched in fright, almost dropping his cup in shock. "What!? You've been into scary houses filled with ghosts!?"

Sonic winked, "Yep! It was like Halloween, but they didn't cause too much trouble. They just liked to play around by scaring people."

"Oh please. There's no such thing as ghosts." Sun scoffed, sipping through his soup.

"Whatever you say, Sun." Sonic shrugged, continuing to enjoy his soup as well.

"Even so, there's no telling." Sierra continued. "No one really saw the Yeti in person, because no one distrubed it's habitat. However, all of that changed five years ago, when he came."

"Who?" Chip asked, curiously while disappointed to find that he already drank all of his soup and attempted to look into it to see if there was anymore.

"A mean Leopard who tried to hurt us when he came to our home. I was just a baby a long time ago." Ayla spoke up.

"He calls himself the Myth Hunter." Sierra added.

That made Sonic splutter and choke on the hot liquid upon hearing both the discription and name, coughing and wheezing as the soup went down the wrong way. He coughed to get air back and stop himself from drowning, while Chip accidentally dunked his head into his now empty cup and gotten it stuck in shock, and Sun froze, his eyes wide, almost dropping his cup in sheer disbelief and a bit of horror.

"Say what!?" Sonic exclaimed once his coughing fit ceased, looking up at the two in horror, his eyes wide in disbelief. "The Myth Hunter!? No way!"

"Oh, great. I should've known that Myth-loving creep was here already, and being the main cause for the Abominable Snowman crisis that's going on." Sun groaned in dismay, memories of Kaiser keeping on believing that his Werehog form is a Werewolf form.

"Help! Help! I'm stuck!" Chip cried out, trying to get the cup off of his head but couldn't. Fortunately, the cobalt hedgehog, while still in shock, grabbed hold of him and pulled the mug off, making the pixie-dog sigh in relief. "Thanks, Sonic."

"No problem, buddy." Sonic replied, before turning back to Sierra and Ayla, asking, still horrified. "But seriously, Kaiser was here?"

"Have you met him?" Sierra asked, concerned over the trio's reactions.

The blue hedgehog and his two friends shared worried glances, before turning back to the mother and daughter, as he answered. "Yeah, we met the guy last night, back in Spagonia. I actually heard about him from a friend the other day and, well, you probably already noticed, but he's very dangerous. I'm gonna take a guess and say that he was after the Snowman, right?"

"Yes, he attempted to destroy our home as he demanded we reveal the location of the Yeti. No one believed that it actually existed, but we directed him to the cave and hoped that he wouldn't come back. Yet in his efforts in ending it's life, the Myth Hunter was forced away, because no one saw him since then. It was a day later that the Yeti has arrived and began to make it's own tradition to destroy our home and kidnap any people it could." The woman said gravely, rubbing Ayla's back when the little girl huddled close to her mother for comfort.

"Guess that explains why Joseph hated outsiders even more since then. I can't believe Kaiser was the main cause for all of this, all trying to kill the Snowman." Sonic realized, clenching his fist in anger over Kaiser's actions. It was because of the evil leopard that Holoska had to go through five years of terror of the Yeti, mainly because, the blue hedgehog thought about it, the Myth Hunter drew it away from it's home where it made no human contact up until then.

"Hey, I'm wondering if the Yeti guy is only attacking because it doesn't want anybody to attack it anymore." Chip commented thoughtfully and worriedly.

"Considering that the Yeti's still alive, I wouldn't be surprised that Myth Hunting loser was sent flying like Sonic did to him last night." Sun shrugged.

Sonic thought about it, and almost instantly this reminded him of how Tikal's father and soldiers have knocked her and the Chao down just so they could use the Chaos and Master Emeralds for their own gains, which angered Chaos into going on a rampage himself, to the point of killing them before being sealed away by the Princess at the cost of her own freedom and life. Could that be why the Yeti kept on attacking? Because it's heart was filled with anger and hate? Considering how it never attacked anyone until five years ago, the blue hedgehog began to think that it may be the case.

"I think you're right, Chip. It does make sense." He agreed thoughtfully, placing his finger and thumb under his chin. "But the question is, how did your necklace make it calm down? I mean, sure it's the key in solving the mysteries in the Temples, but if it could do that, then it must be more powerful than we thought."

"Didn't Mr. Mnymabo say that I could be the opposite of that Dark Gaia thing?" Chip remembered.

"Oh, come on." Sun told the little pixie-dog. "I still don't believe in that. I think it's more of the case that your necklace has some sort of magic you don't remember of having."

"I never heard of Dark Gaia, but I do recall hearing a legend of a Light Gaia." Sierra spoke up, getting the attention of the trio once more.

"Light Gaia?" Sonic asked.

Chip blinked in confusion, but then he felt some kind of weird blink run through his mind, a jolt within his heart as suddenly in his mind's vision, he saw a floating figure stand in the middle of a broken area. The figure then raised it's arms and glowed in green light, and in a flash, the area was restored into a beautiful meadow, the sky turning from darkness to light of blue, the sun shining down. The figure then vanished. Then, as soon as the vision started, it vanished and he returned to reality.

"Huh? What was..." The little pixie muttered, a sense of familiarity and deja vu sweeping across him.

"Chip? Chip, you okay?" The teenage hero, noticing his friend's somewhat blanked daze, quried a little worriedly.

"Weird. I just had a daydream, and this Light Gaia stuff sounds so...familiar. Even what I just saw gave me some weird deja vu that doesn't make sense at all." Chip murmured.

"Was it a memory?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know." Chip shook his head.

"Well, what did you see?" Sun asked, somewhat impatiently.

"I saw this broken land, and this guy, but he was all silhoutte, so I couldn't see him right. Then he raised his arms, and whoosh! The whole land recovered and it became a beautiful meadow on a bright sunny day, and the guy just...disappeared." The pixie explained, puzzled.

"It could be that you have a connection with Light Gaia, Chip." Sierra suggested thoughtfully.

"Me?" Chip asked, pointing at himself.

The kind woman nodded, "They say that Light Gaia is the healer of the world. It heals the world whenever it is in danger, but no one knows how or why. It holds a great power, the power of nature, protection and healing, and it's gift bestows those who are worthy in helping others who protect the earth from many, many dangers. In a way, you may have encountered Light Gaia, giving you your necklace, because it has seemed to have calmed the Yeti, and not even attacking Sonic or Sun when they fought it to protect all of us."

"The power of nature, protection and healing..." Sonic murmured, before gasping softly to himself as he suddenly recalled the green light that protected him from being eaten by Sun in the latter's Werehog form when they first met, and having somewhat broken their fall.

_Suddenly, just as the Werehog was about to take a bite out of Sonic's head, a green flash of light surrounded both of them which made the monster stop and looked around in confusion. The light not only distracted the Werehog and saved Sonic from being eaten, but also made both of them float in midair. The hedgehog, once realizing that he was still alive and in one piece, hesitantly opened his eyes and also noticed._

_"Huh?" He muttered, surprised. Sonic then felt the grip of the claws loosen and that the Werehog, also stunned, let go of him which irritated the beast, but even he couldn't not admire the unusual event._

"Whoa! So that's what it was." The blue hedgehog softly exclaimed, turning to Chip as he said in realization. "Chip, your necklace must've been using it's power to save me and Sun when Eggman threw us off from his Fortress."

"Or maybe using it's power that belongs to this Light Gaia thing must've had a side-effect by making you lose your memories after seeing that we were in trouble." Sun suggested with his own theory, careful in not mentioning on how he tried to eat Sonic as a Werehog.

"You mean, like I saw you two guys to save you, but had to lose my memories?" Chip asked, and the dark-blue hedgehog nodded. "I guess that makes a little bit of sense."

Sonic let out a whistle. "Well, even if you don't remember, you saved us twice. Thanks, Chip. That's one powerful necklace ya' got."

"It that's the case, then the legend must be true." Sierra stated with a smile, gazing at the young hedgehog, adding. "Sonic, since you fight this Dr. Eggman to keep the world safe, it seems that you are the one who is worthy of helping Chip in this quest to protect it with the gift of Light Gaia."

"I am?" The blue hedgehog blinked, surprised.

"Well, you do use the Chaos Emeralds to save the world." Sun pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm not only one who can use their power once in a while, and at the moment I can't until all of them turn back to normal in the Temples." Sonic pointed out, admitting as he scratched his head. "And after what's happened lately, I don't feel worthy. The best I can do is fix things up and stop Egghead, which the latter part is nothing new."

"Which is what you three are doing. Sonic, if anyone can solve this mystery, it's you." Sierra encouraged kindly. "Joseph was always such a horrible man anyway, and he is always upset to never have been voted as leader of our village. Don't let his cruel words get to you. He doesn't believe in the good of the outside world. You and your friends have proven to us that there are still good people out there, just as many other visitors before and after the Myth Hunter's arrival have done."

The cobalt young hero blinked, before these words reminded him of what Mnyambo, and all of Sonic's friends have been telling him in the last week. He smiled and nodded, his resolve renewed and while he still felt guilty for what's happened, it was comforting to know that everyone still believed in him, because of his heroic deeds, being of who he is.

* * *

After the nice warm meal and conversation, Sonic, Chip and Sun were at the other entrance of the village with Sierra and Ayla along with a few other people who still wanted to thank them for everything despite that the mystery was still yet to be solved.

"Beyond this path is where you should find the Temple of Gaia. Pass through the shrine, and into the cave of the Yeti. But be careful, because even with Chip's necklace, the beast is still a threat." Sierra informed the traveling trio.

"Thanks Sierra. Leave the rest to the three of us." Sonic replied.

"Thanks again for your lovely meal, Mrs. Sierra! It was great!" Chip said happily.

"And thanks for letting us warm up a little." Sun added.

"My pleasure." The female leader nodded.

"Please be careful and come back safe, Mr. Sonic." Ayla told them.

"We will, I promise. And, you can just call me Sonic." The blue hedgehog nodded, giving the little girl a wink and a thumbs up. "See ya later, everybody!"

The villagers said their goodbyes to the trio who waved before taking off into the mountain path to continue onward on their journey towards their next destination.

_Fifteen minutes later..._

Sonic, Sun and Chip were racing through the snow and mountain, and while the blue hedgehog focused on the task and adventure ahead of them despite how cold it was after having such warm soup and freshly baked bread, the dark-blue hedgehog, being forced to hold onto Sonic's hand since he couldn't run or fly as fast as the duo, groaned as the pixie couldn't stop complaining about how cold it was and how hungry he was.

"Ugh! Will you _please_ just shut up!? You already ate about an hour ago!" Sun yelled in frustration.

"I know, but all of this cold and flying is making me hungry again!" Chip whined, panting and feeling the need to eat again already creeping up.

'_Oh, Chip._' Sonic shook his head, trying to drown out the complaints and argument, and kept on racing forward. He really liked the little pixie, but there was always cons and pros when it comes to friendship. But that's what he liked about people, humans, mobians and even animals alike. All different personalities with different interests, while sharing the same but not exactly the same. It made meeting new people more interesting, exciting and also knowing who he can trust and who he had to be careful with.

Though sometimes it didn't always work out for him.

The fifteen year old was about to check up on Chip when he, and Sun who sighed in relief as the pixie finally seemed to have fallen silent, noticed that their smallest friend wasn't flying anymore, forcing Sonic to skid to a stop, and nearly making his fellow hedgehog fly forward.

"Chip?" Sonic muttered, seeing that his friend had landed onto the cold snow, groaning in hunger, making the cobalt hero and the dark-blue hedgehog approach him.

"Oh...hungry." Chip groaned, before remembering his chocolate bars. "Oh! I know!" He pulled out one which strangely looked to be covered in white frost. The pixie, ignoring this fact, took a huge bite onto it...

Only to remain the way he was for about three seconds before flinching, his body creeping up in pain before he tossed it away and flew around all over the place, holding his mouth.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! My teeth!" Chip screamed in pain, flying around like crazy while the two hedgehogs watched him.

"Come on, you big baby. It can't be that hard." Sun rolled his eyes.

Sonic blinked before picking up the frozen treat that landed in front of him, and when he gave it an experimental knock, it made a clanging noise, not even cracking and almost as though it was a frozen steel instead of chocolate.

"Whoa!" The blue hedgehog yelped in shock with a huge sweat drop, his eyes widening in disbelief, while the dark-blue hedgehog flinched with a sweat drop of his own, dumbfounded. "It's hard as a rock!"

"...I take that back. It can be that hard." Sun muttered, as he gazed at Chip who was still screaming in pain due to having biting down onto a super hard chocolate that was no longer edible. At least not in a place like this.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!" The little pixie yelped and cried.

"Think we're gonna be avoiding in having chocolate around here, unless you wanna try melting it back at the village and pour it onto some snow to make chocolate flavored Snow Cream." Sonic muttered half-jokingly, scratching his head with an raised eyebrow.

That only made the dark-blue hedgehog roll his eyes over the comment, before Chip literally dove into the snow and dunked his head into it, and then the latter sighed in relief as he gulped down a large clump of snow. Sonic and Sun both stared at him awkwardly, before sighing in exasperation, and in the latter hedgehog's case, annoyance.

"You feeling better now?" Sun asked, hopefully.

"Yeah, I think so." Chip moaned.

"Sorry, Chip. We'll get something to eat as soon as we find the Temple, 'kay?" Sonic shrugged apologetically, tossing the frozen solid bar over his shoulder. "Let's go before we end up turning into frozen ice blocks."

The other two agreed, before Chip rested onto the blue hedgehog's head while the latter held onto the reluctant dark-blue hedgehog's hand, and then Sonic sped onward.

Yet what they didn't realize was that from a pathway cliff on a mountain near where the trio were running, was the Yeti from before as it leered down at Sonic and his friends. It wasn't alone, because two more Yetis stomped up and stood beside it on both sides, watching the group despite them being a blur of blue, dark blue, and burgundy red.

* * *

**A/N: Again, I am so sorry for the lateness of the chapter, but I just thought I'd add in the twist of the Yeti into this story. The next chapter will be a bit more perilous hopefully for Sonic and his companions.**

**See you later!**


	12. Chapter 12: Snow Tribes

**Author's Note: Another chapter, another update. I hope you guys will like it. Sorry that it's late, so please enjoy now that a new chapter is finally here!  
**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. The franchise belongs to Sega. I only own Sun the Hedgehog and Kaiser the Myth Hunter.**

* * *

_Chapter 12: Snow Tribes._

Back in Eggman's secret base, Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun were still trying to find the right recording back up from the Fortress to prove the evil scientist's theory about Sonic's new friend Sun the Hedgehog. They'd been up all day and all night, having to go through way back to a week before, and the three robots felt like they weren't getting even close. As they still attempted on looking for the right footage, the automatic doors opened to reveal Orbot who wheeled in.

"Still searching for the footage to prove Dr. Eggman's theory about Sonic the Hedgehog's clone, I see." The round-ish robot stated in a tone that wasn't a question.

"We can't even break the code without breaking the tape." Bocoe grumbled, coming to the point of drifting off into sleep mode.

"I'm so tired." Decoe sighed, almost falling asleep himself. "Why can't we just have recorded that moment instead of recording several months of construction?"

"Yeah, it's not like anybody's gonna be using it for themselves!" Bokkun ranted in frustration.

"Another one of Dr. Eggman's flaws." Orbot stated in agreement. "Assuming he will survive a frost bite upon returning from Holoska."

"Huh? Holoska?" The three other robots asked, puzzled as they turned to face the latest creation.

Orbot responded, "Indeed. He wishes to check out the Temple before Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies do. Ergo, my data calculates that the hero of Mobius will get there first, if rumors of Yeti sightings are proven true or false. His orders are for the three of you to continue searching through the archives and I am to babysit him."

"Aw! He gets to go out again and we still get stuck in doing this!" Bokkun whined. "Why do I always get the lame jobs!?"

"Uh, Orbot? I don't think Dr. Eggman will like you saying how you're going with him by using the term of babysitting." The grey robot of the group cautioned worriedly, knowing the evil man's temper all too well.

"I don't think going to Holoska is such a good idea." The light yellow robot added in concern. "There'd been sightings of a Yeti that's been attacking a village for the last five years, and it picks up movements and sound from anything."

"That's just a hoax." Eggman's voice grunted, scaring the two older robots who yelped in fright as they, Bokkun and Orbot who jumped slightly, saw the aforementioned doctor stand in the doorway, glaring at them. "There's no such thing as an Abominable Snowman! It's most likely a snow tiger or a polar bear that has everyone superstitious."

Bocoe and Decoe shared a scared look, before bringing up a photo from out of nowhere and showed it to their creator, the latter robot saying. "Does this look like a hoax to you, doctor?"

"It has the strength of a gorilla, about 35 feet tall and shows no mercy to anyone. According to the rumors, it kidnaps anyone almost every year and the village has to rebuilt after it's attack around five years ago." Bocoe explained.

The evil doctor stared at the photo of the very well convinced Yeti, but he still didn't believe it one second before snatching the photo from Decoe and scrunched it up and tossed it into the trash can near by.

"Obviously it was a couple of people in a costume attempting to scare the superstitious! What's really there is another Temple of Gaia and I must get to it before Sonic does! It's also a good place to also capture his clone, Sun the Hedgehog, and get my revenge on his new little pet friend!" Eggman shouted.

"Sure looks pretty convincing to be a very large costume." Decoe stated with uncertainty.

"Like how everyone except Sonic were convinced that that detective Vector the Crocodile of the Chaotix was a giant monster. I still have trouble figuring out how he grew so big before some pills shrank him back to normal." Bocoe muttered, remembering a certain time back at Station Square months ago.

That annoyed Eggman as he growled before facepalming himself with a deadpan. "You two have been watching too many horror movies behind my back."

He then looked up at them once more and ordered, "Now get back to looking through the video footage! Bokkun, you are to send a message to Sonic and his cohorts, while Orbot and I reach the Gaia Temple!"

Bokkun perked up happily at the sound of not being stuck in looking through the documents or security cameras, before saluting to his creator. "Sir, yes, sir!"

While Eggman nodded in satisfaction before turning and gesturing Orbot to follow him, Bokkun chuckled cheekily before turning to both Decoe and Bocoe and gave them a raspberry and then flew off to get the video message monitor and pack up for his trip to Holoska. That left the two remaining robotic minions to groan angrily over their most hated co-worker, heating up slightly.

"That Bokkun really is like a spoiled brat!" They both complained in unison.

None the less, they got back to work in hopes of finding any sort of clue of Sun's possible creation.

* * *

Sonic was still running in a good amount of speed while being careful as he ran on ice, knowing that he could end up slipping and that would only slow him and his friends down. The blue hedgehog was having a thrilling time none the less, with Chip clinging onto his back as he went faster, and Sun screaming his head off while holding onto his rival-turned-friend's hand for dear life.

But he was having so much fun despite the risk of potential dangers in this place like Avalanches, Orcas, ground crumbling, or even the Yeti into it's cave once they would get through to the Shrine. Sonic raced through the snowy terrains, up a snow hill and ignoring his companions' protests before reaching the top in mere seconds, and game to a sudden stop while the snow storm ended for the time being. As Chip and Sun both groaned while complaining about the amount of speed and icy cold weather, Sonic gazed down at the scenery below them and needless to say he was in awe.

"Couldn't you just hire a dog sled or something?" Sun asked, glaring at his fellow hedgehog who didn't seem to pay attention.

Chip was about to agree when he looked up and saw what Sonic was staring at and breathed in awe. "Whoa...! Hey Sun, look!"

Annoyed in being interrupted over whatever it was that the little pixie was pointing at, the dark-blue hedgehog gazed ahead of them and needless to say his violate eyes widened in surprise. In front of them was an amazing view of more mountains, but in the most spectacular way, white clouds moving apart, the sky was blue, the sun shining down that made the rock formations look like they were a fade shade of purple, like lavander, and the snow covering the top and parts of the mountains. Down below were frozen lakes and cave tunnels.

"That's what you call a view." Sonic remarked after whistling, with a bright smile on his muzzle.

"It's beautiful!" Chip exclaimed, his eyes wide and almost sparkling.

"Okay, I have to admit and no puns intended or anything, but this is pretty cool." Sun admitted, smiling a little at the sight.

"You mean cold?" Sonic teased with a grin, which resulted in Chip laughing and Sun rolling his eyes over the pun, but still smiled none the less. The teenager then gazed back to the sight and said. "Jokes aside and as much as I'd love to keep looking at this view all day, we should get moving, or else we'll freeze and we still gotta find the shrine to get to the temple."

"You mean like that?" The smallest member of their group pointed down below, and when the two hedgehogs looked to see what he was looking at, surely enough was the sight of an ancient looking doorway at the very bottom of the valley below.

"Great spotting, Chip! That just makes things easier." Sonic praised, causing the small pixie to hover proudly in a pose, only for them and Sun to hear a metallic noise, do which the moody hedgehog looked to his right and glared hard.

"Looks like we're not the only ones who spotted it." Sun stated, already on edge.

When Sonic and Chip looked to see for themselves, the former's emerald eyes narrowed as a couple of robots were seen in the short distance and were already making their way down below towards the Shrine.

"We've got company. C'mon, let's go!" The cobalt teenager grunted, grabbing onto his friends and carefully looked down before running down the mountain while aware to avoid in slipping and falling. "Whatever you guys do, don't scream or yell, or there'll be an avalanche."

Unfortunately, that made Chip nearly panic...loudly. "WHAAAT!?"

His yelling echoed throughout the mountain range, which soon followed with the dreaded rumbling and when the trio looked behind them, lumps of snow began to delicately break apart and ice began to crumble. Sonic and his friends gasped in horror which prompted the blue hedgehog to run faster and telling the others to hold on, while the robots nearby, detecting signal of life-forms, also detected the unstable terrain of snow beginning to form the avalanche and turned around to see it already falling and sliding towards them and the three Mobians.

"Chip...!" Sonic growled, irritated.

"Sorry! Sorry! I was an accident!" Chip cried out apologetically, realizing what he had done.

"You seriously want us to get killed, don't you?" Sun growled angrily.

"Just hold on! This ain't the time to argue!" Sonic yelled, deciding to worry about chastising the amnesetic pixie-dog later once they were safe.

The blue speedster ran as fast as he could despite the unsteady snow beneath him which made things harder and he wished he had a snowboard or something. To make matters worse with time running out, the two robots that they saw moments ago, build for this kind of thing, were alerted by their presence and snow-drove ahead of them and stood ready to attack despite that they were about to be destroyed by the avalanche.

"No time for you, bolt-heads!" The blue hedgehog grunted, and once telling his friends to hold on, he leaped high into the air before performing an axe-kick at one of them, smashing it's head off and caused it to malfunction before exploding and tumbling down the mountain before sliding. That gave Sonic an idea, and holding a tight grip on Chip in one arm and Sun's hand in his other hand, landed onto the front of the robot and had his friends holding on once Sun landed behind him and Chip on his head.

"Lean forward!" Sonic instructed, taking the lead as they were now using the robot as a make-shift bob-sled.

Sun and Chip did so and their newfound speed of their ride increased, leaning from left to ride under Sonic's instructions to avoid the missile attacks from the remaining robot behind them which tried to follow, but it met it's untimely demise when the Avalanche engulfed it whole and buried it entirely, yet it still threatened to do the same to the trio as they attempted to go faster, dodging rocks and spikes as fast as they could, with Sonic half-screaming and half-cheering.

When it came to the lake nearing them, they spotted more robots in front of them, so Sonic narrowed his eyes and instructed his companions to lean up, which they did and they rammed into the three badniks from left to right, even though the trio were a bit banged up and felt like they were in a giant pinball machine, and were still coming in the danger of the avalanche which then engulfed the already destroyed robots and continued sliding down.

"Lean up!" The blue hedgehog told his friends as they were nearing a rock slope that acted like a ramp.

The trio leaned up and were then flown over the ramp and into the air, narrowly escaping the Avalanche which came to a stop at the edge of the lake.

"Yeah! I knew we'd pull through!" Sonic cheered as he, Sun and Chip looked over their shoulders, the fifteen year old smirking in victory. "No Avalanche is gonna stop me!"

But when Chip looked down and ahead of them, he gave out a panicked yelp, pointing with a shaky finger. "No, but THAT MIGHT!"

"Huh?" Sonic and Sun both murmured, before looking down and then almost immediately saw the problem and their eyes widened while they flinched in panic.

A large whale surfaced from beneath the icy cold water, letting out a loud, high-pitched moan with it's mouth opened as though it was yawning...and from the looks of things, the trio were in the set collision course of landing right inside. Sonic, Sun and Chip all panicked in fear as they had no control of where to land and even if they did avoid it, they would end up splashing into the water, and Sonic knew for certain that he couldn't swim and he had no idea on whether Sun or Chip could either.

"NO! NO, DON'T EAT US!" Sonic practically screamed and begged. This brought back horrible memories of when he escaped from an Orca Whale while attempting to reach Tails back at Station Square in the beginning of the Chaos crisis.

"Oh, great!" Sun cried out, feeling his heart beat in a surge of panic himself.

"We're fish food!" Chip screamed hysterically.

The three of them screamed in terror as they were getting closer to the mouth, before Sonic came up with a desperate idea, turning to his friends quickly and shouted. "JUMP!"

"WHAT!?" Sun and Chip shouted, their eyes nearly popping out.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?" The dark-blue hedgehog yelled.

"JUST DO IT!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, awkwardly standing up and kept firm while preparing to make the daring leap. "OR ELSE WE'RE INSIDE THAT THING'S MOUTH IN THE NEXT FEW SECONDS!"

Realizing that he was right and that there wasn't much time to argue, Sun stood up quickly and carefully while Chip leaped onto his back and clinged tightly onto the amnesitic hedgehog who ignored him. He and Sonic, at the latter's signal, jumped as high and above, the three of them screaming as they flew over the whale while the robot they used as a sled landed right inside the mouth which closed shut. The trio landed onto the water mammal's back, but due to it being wet(obviously) and slippery, they went sliding down it's back towards it's tail and to the water, making Sonic panic even more.

As they screamed, at first believing they would end up sliding into the water and drown while freezing to death. Then the whale's tail flipped them upward and over with water droplets surrounding them. Sonic, Chip and Sun continued screaming before they thankfully reached the other side, and landed into the huge pile of snow, rolling before coming to a stop while inadvertently burying themselves briefly. After moments of silence and non-movement, one by one, the traveling trio dug themselves out, groaning, dazed but amazingly still alive.

"Well...that happened." Sonic breathed, shivering in the cold as he pulled himself out, as did Sun who coughed up snow that got onto his mouth. Chip had a bit of trouble as the blue hedgehog dusted himself off, shaking his quills to shake out the snow that got into them, some getting onto his rival-turned-friend who had just been doing the same when he was showered by 'snowflakes'.

"Hey, watch it!" Sun grunted, shielding himself with one arm to cover his face.

"Sorry." Sonic shrugged, before hearing Chip's muffled voice as the pixie managed to only pull himself half-way out, and found himself stuck.

"Um, a little help, please?" Chip pleaded.

"Here. I'll getcha out, little buddy." The teenage hero offered, approaching to help ull him out of the pile of snow, only to pause in his steps when he and his friends heard the frightfully familiar roar filling the icy cold air, making them stop in their tracks and softly gasped in shock.

Looking up, and in Chip's case, behind him, he, Sonic and Sun all gasped louder as a white furry thing from above a cliff near the entrance of an alley jumped down and roared loudly, revealing itself to be the Yeti, roaring at the trio who jumped slightly.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Chip screamed in fear, terrified of what the Yeti would do to him and his two hedgehog friends.

"No way!" Sonic exclaimed in shock. "How'd he get here so quickly?"

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Sun groaned in shock and annoyance.

As though not recognizing them or possibly the effects of Chip's necklace had worn off, the Yeti gave them no time to do anything as the large beast swiped it's right arm and smacked both Sonic and Sun who were caught off-guard to the side. The two hedgehogs screamed in pain and alarm before hitting the wall hard on their backs and slid down into the snow, hissing in pain and air forced out of their lungs.

"Sonic! Sun!" Chip cried out in horror, only to scream when the Yeti turned it's attention to him and he panicked, trying to pull himself out to escape and reach his injured friends.

Unfortunately, the snow monster reached down and clasped him in it's large hand, pulling him out of the snow, and held him in it's grasp with only his head visible. The beast stared down at him thoughtfully while the pixie shivered in fear at it's face, or rather it's fanged mouth.

"AHHH! Sonic! Sun! HELP!" The trapped pixie screamed, struggling to wriggle out of the monster's hand.

Sonic and Sun could only watch in horror as, too dazed to move for that moment, the Yeti roared once more before it jumped high and over their heads, above the door, up the slope and into a cave, with their friend captured and taken away, kidnapped like some of the people of the village for the past five years.

"CHIP!" Sonic screamed out, ignoring his injuries and leaped up, hoping to catch up and used a Spin Jump to reach the slope, only for a boulder to block off the passage above the doorway to the shrine, and even with his speed, he was too late by a few seconds. "NO! NO!"

Angered, horrified and guilt-ridden, Sonic skid to a stop before punching the boulder while screaming anguishly to the monster that managed to escape with one of his new friends. "Give him back! Give! Him! BACK! CHIP!"

Sonic was about to Spin Dash into the boulder to break his way through when Sun, also recovering and seeing what the teenage hero was about to do, had jumped up and quickly grabbed hold of him by the arms, pulling him back to stop him from doing anything stupid.

"Sonic, stop! You're going to cause another avalanche!" Sun shouted, holding a tight grip onto the cobalt hero of Mobius.

"No! Sun, let go of me! I've gotta save Chip!" Sonic protested, struggling to pull himself free from the other hedgehog's grip.

"The entrance's blocked off! We'll have to use the main one!" The dark-blue hedgehog grunted, pulling and struggling to hold his grip, forgetting that they were somewhat high up and was walking backwards towards the edge of a cliff above the doorway.

As the two were struggling against each other, Sun lost his footing and ended up falling off while taking Sonic with him, falling down screaming a short fall before landing back into the snow faces first. The blue hedgehog winced while pulling his head out of the snow, before standing up and glaring angrily at his rival who rubbed his head.

"Why'd you stop me!?" Sonic demanded.

"Because there was no point in breaking through that boulder." Sun answered darkly, brushing himself off.

"Chip has been kidnapped by a monster! If we don't save him, he'll be another one of the victims on that thing's killing list!" The blue hedgehog argued, having come to a conclusion that the Yeti killed it's captives for the past five years as they were never seen again. He didn't want Chip to meet the same fate, especially before he got his memories back.

"I know that! Look, you were wasting time by trying to break through the passage which one, is blocked off and two, if you try and break your way through by force, you'll not only block it off even more, but you'll also block the way to the temple and the Yeti's cave off! Haven't you even thought of that!?" The dark-blue hedgehog snapped back.

Sonic froze(figuratively) over that, way retort he had on his tongue remaining there. He fell silent, thinking more carefully and, as much as he hated to admit it, Sun was right. In his desperation and impatience to try and rescue Chip, he hadn't been thinking. He panicked, letting fear of losing his friend overtake him, which would've made things worse. The teenage hero gazed at the ground, frustration and guilt swelling up inside him.

Seeing that Sonic remained silent, Sun sighed in frustration. "For the fastest thing alive, your brain takes forever to catch up to it."

"Shut up! I'm sorry, okay!? Look, I messed again, Chip's been kidnapped, and we've gotta save him before it's too late! I feel awful about this because I didn't move on time! Worse than that, even! It's all my fault! You happy now!?" Sonic shouted, anger, self-scolding and guilt on his expression and screaming and burning in his chest.

A long moment of silence as the two of them stared down each other in a glaring contest, before Sun sighed, muttering. "Anything but. I just...Ugh! Darn it, I seriously want to rip Eggman's mustache off so hard that his nose bleeds!"

Sonic could only look away, and while he knew that Eggman was to blame for this to happen, the world breaking apart, and both Chip and Sun rendered with amnesia, it didn't change the fact that the blue hedgehog knew nothing about the Yeti terrorizing the village because of the Myth Hunter's cruelty, or how he had easily fallen right into the evil doctor's trap. Unable to stop thinking about the cruel, taunting words both villains had said to him.

_"Save your breath, Sonic! Finally, you have lost! But you still refuse it, don't you? You're too stubborn for your own good."_

_"Almost one hundred percent of the world's population knows of the great hero of Mobius. Yet you couldn't save the world this time. Such a disappointment for a child like you. Did you finally admit defeat from that old fool Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who everyone refers to as Dr. Eggman?"_

He even ended up thinking about the cruel words Joseph has told him before the man's banishment.

_"Sorry's not good enough!" The old man hissed furiously. "Listen, everyone! These boys are more trouble than the Yeti! They need to be punished for invading our home!"_

_"__**HE COULD'VE AT LEAST PREVENTED IT!**__"_

Tears formed in his eyes over the words that repeated loudly in his ears, Sonic turned around to prevent Sun from seeing like this, struggling to hold back his emotions while rubbing his arms. They were right. Eggman, Kaiser and Joseph were all right. He was stupid, he refused to admit defeat when he had finally and ultimately lost, he failed the world, he had been unable to prevent the damages that were done and all he could do was try and fix it...

Now Chip was kidnapped, and if he wasn't saved, not only Sonic would lose a friend who would never have gotten his memories back, but he and everyone else would also lose the chance of entering the Gaia Temples to restore both Mobius and the Chaos Emeralds. He wished he could turn back time and prevent all of this mess from ever happening.

Memories of his nightmare back in Spagnoia also rang heavily, and the distraught and guilt-ridden hedgehog bit his bottom lip.

"It's all my fault...!" Sonic whispered.

"Sonic..." Sun, having heard what his rival had said, could only mutter and then saw that the blue hedgehog was shaking and sniffling. Guilt hanged heavily in his chest, as he realized that Sonic was rendered back to how he felt before he admitted to Amy who reassured him that it wasn't his fault.

Sighing, Sun approached him, hesitantly placing a hand onto Sonic's shoulder, making the other hedgehog feel the gentle, hesitant and warm touch and looked behind him to gaze at his friend.

"We'll get him back." Sun whispered, as Sonic turned around before the former smiled softly, which was out of character of the dark-blue hedgehog. "It's not your fault. That Myth-Hunting idiot's the one who caused the Abominable Snowman crisis. You didn't know, so stop blaming yourself. Alright?"

Surprised by the reassurance from the usually grouchy hedgehog, before remembering the supporting words from him as well as the others last night back at Spagnoia the previous night which he felt like kicking himself for forgetting despite the guilt that still hanged heavily in his heart, Sonic smiled back a little while wiping away his developing tears.

"Thanks, Sun. For snapping me out and stopping me from doing something stupid." Sonic replied gratefully. Sighing and calming down while knowing that they couldn't waste anymore time, he smirked as his determination returned almost instantly. "Let's get Chip back and teach that white hair-ball a lesson, and then get to the Temple!"

"That was fast." Sun remarked, lowering his hand as Sonic shrugged with a chuckle.

"What can I say? I leave the brain-storming part to Tails." He replied.

"Right." The dark-blue hedgehog chuckled.

Knowing now that their only hope in rescuing Chip was to enter and explore the Yeti cave to find him, Sonic and Sun both hurried into the Shrine, pushing the heavy doors open and found that it was quite dark inside, only lit up by green lights on the walls. As they entered the tunnel while looking around in awe, just as Sonic was about to grab onto Sun's arm to run at full speed towards the cave, the doors suddenly slammed shut so hard that it felt like it trapped them.

"AH!" Both hedgehogs yelped in fright, then saw what happened and hurried back, and attempted to pull the doors back open, only to find that it was sealed tight.

"That's just great. Guess we'll have to find another way outta here later." Sonic groaned, stepping back and sighed in exasperation, placing his hands on his hips. "Well, first thing's first. We gotta find-"

He cut himself off when Sun moaned in pain and when the blue hedgehog turned to see what's wrong, Sonic softly gasped as he saw his friend hunched over a little, clutching at his chest. "Sun, what's wrong?"

To his and even Sun's shock, the dark-blue hedgehog grunted in pain and right before the young hero's eyes, his rival went through another transformation back into a Werehog, making Sonic step back a little.

"**Ugh...What now?**" Sun growled, once again in his cursed form.

At first Sonic had no idea, but then as he looked around the dark room, a realization came into mind and shrugged. "Guess nighttime isn't the only time you turn into a Werehog. Looks like dark places like this can do the same and you need sunlight if you wanna be a hedgehog again."

"**I hate to admit it, but it makes sense. It's bad enough I'm stuck in this form for twelve hours.**" The Werehog grumbled in agreement, as Sonic's logic did make perfect sense.

Sonic gulped as he felt nervous all of the sudden. It was dark in here, they were alone, and not much room to escape in. He hated to think of what would happen if the monster within Sun would take brief control again to try and eat the blue hedgehog.

"The exit and the cave can't be too far." Sonic said, as calmly as possible.

Sun gazed at the cobalt teenager, and winced when he felt the unfamiliar pain of the beast inside him surge up, feeling slightly sick in the stomach when his vision blurred a little, and then he heard it again. That dark voice from yesterday in the plane ride back to Spagnoia.

"_**...Lone...Are...Him...Hedgehog...**_" The dark, cruel and evil voice spoke, and to Sun's horror, it sounded a bit more clearer. It even added the word hedgehog. Whatever it was, it still wanted him to believe that he was a clone of Sonic.

'_**Shut up! I'm not Sonic's clone! I'm someone who can't remember his own name! I'm Sun the Hedgehog! He's my friend!**_' Sun hissed in his mind.

"Sun? Hey, Sun?"

Blinking rapidly, Sun looked down to face Sonic who held a concerned look on his face, yet his eyes held nervousness due to the beast inside his chest. "You okay?"

"**Uh, y-yeah. Just hearing things.**" Sun replied, sighing as he shook his head.

"Hmm...If you say so." Sonic muttered, turning towards the doorway and hurried over towards it, hoping it would lead them out. The door was thankfully just a few meters away and instantly he pushed them open before heading outside, which lead to a small prologue ice cave that was large and wide, with several tunnels above them and high above for about 40 feet up, sunlight shone through, and in front of him was another large opening of another cave, the Yeti Cave he guessed.

The moment Sun caught up to him and into the sunlight, he grunted before the light transformed him back into a Mobian hedgehog. He panted a little before sighing, rubbing his head with one hand. As much as Sonic tried not to show it, he relaxed a little and sighed softly in relief.

"Being a Werehog sucks." The dark-blue hedgehog grumbled.

"I can imagine. C'mon, this way should be to the Yeti's cave. We've gotta save Chip." Sonic gestured, taking hold of Sun's hand.

"...Here we go ag-AAAAaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sun screamed the moment Sonic immediately ran into the larger opening of the cave as they prepared to find and rescue Chip before it was too late.

Yet the two young hedgehogs were not aware that, from the other holes of the place above them, were menacing red eyes, and more Yetis appeared, having seen Sonic and Sun race straight through to rescue their kidnapped friend, right into the beasts' territory.

* * *

Meanwhile, having arrived in Holoska themselves, Eggman, Bokkun and Orbot found themselves flying around in the Egg Mobile attempting to locate the Temple of Gaia only to find themselves lost in another blizzard, which they couldn't see through even with the navigational map installed. Fortunately, they ended up passing the village which meant they were safe for the time being, but were randomly going from one wrong mountain to another.

"This arctic blizzard is so thick, I can only hope Sonic, his little friend and clone are just as lost as we are right now!" Eggman grunted in sheer annoyance.

"Ergo, the storm's system is accurately so thick that is jams the signal of the navigator, almost like a dead zone." Orbot stated.

"I'm not going out there in this weather! It's too foggy and freezing! I'll turn into a bot-cicle!" Bokkun ranted childishly.

"Oh, knock it off! I gave the order regardless of a snow flake, and you're going to give that message to Sonic and his clone!" The evil scientist grunted impatiently. "I must get to that temple before that little pest does! Now get going before I dump you and leave you here!"

Shaken by the threat, the smallest robot yelped before he cried out as he attempted to open the hatch. "Okay, okay! I'm going, I'm going!"

Unfortunately, the moment he did, the arctic blast hit them so hard that it blew Bokkun back as he cried out and hit Eggman in the face, which resulted in them, Orbot and the Egg Mobile to almost freeze up, the controls malfunctioning due to the blizzard and they went all spiraling down towards the snow out of control. All three of them screamed before crash landing, thankfully the right side up, but partially buried in the snow and chilled as the freezing winds sweeped into Eggman's bones and the mechanicle parts of Bokkun and even Orbot.

"It's f-f-f-f-freezing!" Eggman shivered violently, futilely attempting to stop himself from turning into an egg-cicle by rubbing his arms and hugging himself.

"I told you i-it was too foggy and c-c-cold!" Bokkun whined, doing the same as his creator. "Why couldn't have the Temple be on a tropical island or something?"

"Perhaps the logical advice is to wait for the weather to die down, and next time pack some extra winter gear instead of relying on the heating system of your crafts, Dr. Eggman." Orbot suggested, shivering himself.

Instead of agreeing immediately, the evil scientist growled before shoving both robots down to the floor and grunted. "Be quiet! Just close the hatch and reset the systems! We have a Temple to find and a hedgehog clone to capture!"

Before the two robots could answer, another blast of icy winds sweeped through and they and Eggman yelped while shivering once more, with the latter adding. "B-before we f-freeze to death our-ourselves!"

Looks like they might be here for a while, if they survive the freezing temperatures.

* * *

"Help! HELP! I don't wanna be Yeti food!" Chip continued screaming, as he was being carried by the Yeti that was holding him captive, while the large monster ran through the icy corridors of the cave, dismissing the icicles that hanged from the ceiling and dodged jagged rocks that tood in the way.

The little pixie kept on calling out for Sonic and Sun, hoping that they were catching up, but he felt disoriented and felt that even if they could catch up, they could easily find themselves lost. Chip knew that he felt lost right now, but he was too busy trying and failing to pull himself ouf the Yeti's clawed hand, he didn't even notice his necklace was glowing faintly again.

The Yeti slowed to a simple walking as it entered a larger cavern that looked like some kind of ice palace of sorts, make-shift tables made of ice and rock, more holes that lead up or down to more tunnels, light coming through from the ceiling as the place was strangely lit up with campfires and not melting the ice. As Chip still tried to pull himself free, he noticed where he was and his eyes widened in shock, fear and disbelief; the place was full of not just one, but hundreds, if not thousands of Yetis!

Some were grunting, others seemingly playing games with rocks, more going in and out of corridors, and near by as the Yeti carrying him was approaching a much larger area at the end of the cave, a huge cage made of wood which held people; people that have been kidnapped by the Yetis for the past five years. Two teenage girls and one little boy who looked around seven or eight years old, all rugged up in make-shift blankets and clothes, fed with icy cold melted water and dried up but ediable food to keep them alive.

'_They must be the people the Yeti kidnapped. But, why are they still alive? I thought they were eaten. Am I gonna end up locked up like them?_' Chip thought to himself, and while half of him was relieved that he wasn't going to be eaten after all, the other half dreaded the idea of being locked up like those poor people that were kidnapped and held against their will for five years, maybe less for two of them.

To his surprise, and the surprise of the three human who caught sight of the unusual but cute pixie-dog, the Yeti did not approach the cage to lock him up. Instead, it approached the end of the room which was hidden in the shadows at first. But then more torches lit up with filled up the room and got the attention of the rest of the Yeti kind. When Chip looked up, his jaw dropped as, sitting on a giant stone-like throne, was an 80-foot tall aging gray Yeti, black finger-nail like claws, white long hair and beard, and dull gray eyes with a stone expression.

All of the smaller Yeti including the one holding the small pixie then all stood before kneeling down with their heads bowed low, as the grip around Chip then loosened to allow him to sit on the palm of the Yeti that kidnapped him. It was then that he noticed the jewel on his necklace glowed a bit brighter, surprising him as he looked at it.

"It's glowing all by itself again. I don't get it." Chip muttered to himself, before looking up and gulped in fear, quivering as the giant Yeti eyed him with it's menacing and deep gaze. Not knowing what to expect, the terrified pixie pleaded. "P-please, oh, mighty, uh, respectable King Yeti! Let me go!"

The 'King Yeti' as Chip had called him, stared at him for a long while, before it opened his mouth, and then spoke in a forgian language, which somehow, to Chip's surprise, he could hear the words as though the beast was speaking in English.

"_**YOU DO NOT REMEMBER YOUR PAST, OH GUARDIAN OF THE LIGHT?**_" The giant Yeti spoke, yet despite the different language, the small pixie blinked in confusion.

"...Uh...Guardian of the Light?" Chip asked, awkwardly, pointing at himself.

"He can speak Yeti?" The little boy whispered to the two teenage girls, confused.

"I think he can understand them, but he can't speak their language." One of the girls with blue eyes whispered back.

"Who is that cute little guy, and why is his necklace glowing green?" The other girl with brown eyes wondered in a whisper.

The giant Yeti growled softly, which made Chip gulp nervously again, before the former said. "_**IT SEEMS YOU DO NOT REMEMBER YOUR TASK, AND IT IS NOT YET YOUR TIME TO DO SO, YET YOU ARE HERE. DO YOU RECALL YOUR NAME?**_"

"I don't even remember who I am." Chip shrugged, still scared but decided to try and have a conversation anyway. "My friends call me Chip, and my best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog, is trying to help me get my memories back, and the memories of our other friend who we call Sun the Hedgehog. Y-You see, the world, as crazy as this sounds, was broken into pieces by this bad man named Dr. Eggman who's trying to take it over, and Sonic's been stopping him for four years. He woke this giant monster n-named Dark Gaia, and uh-"

"_**WHAT!?**_" The Yeti King roared in anger, causing Chip, the three humans, and even the rest of the Yeti jump in fright as the cave shook over the roar. "_**DARK GAIA WAS FORCEFULLY AWAKENED BY A HUMAN YOU CALL DR. EGGMAN!?**_"

Terrified even more, Chip nodded quickly. "Y-yeah! But Sonic, Sun and I are working on putting the world back to together, trying to find the Temples of Gaia, w-which we think m-my necklace has a clue to how open them up, and fix up the Chaos Emeralds which lost their power when Bea-uh, I-I mean Eggman stole and used to do that, and th-they fix up the planet! We already put one piece of it back into place and were on our way to Temple here to do the same and keep going until the world is restored!"

"_**HOW DO YOU KNOW OF THE TEMPLES IF YOU LOST YOUR MEMORIES?**_" The Yeti King questioned, sounding skeptical and suspicious.

"A-A nice man named Professor Pickle who had been kidnapped by Eggman told us how to fix up the world, about Dark Gaia and stuff. Then we met another nice man who said I-I could be like the opposite of the giant monster, and a nice village lady earlier today said that I-I have a connection with this Light Gaia guy or girl, and Sonic is worthy to help me to heal the planet. That's all I know, honest!" Chip explained.

The Yeti all around him shared glances, to which he continued quickly. "I also heard that the horrible Cheetah, the Myth Hunter, tried to hurt the people of the village and h-hunt a Yeti. My friends and I met him last night in another, and he wants not only me, but also Sun who-"

He cut himself off after realizing what he was about to say, and with three people around, Chip thought that mentioning that Sun turns into a Werehog was a bad idea, so he continued. "Who has his own problems and the Myth Hunter just wants to kill him. But Sonic made him go away. Sonic's the hero of the planet."

"_**HMMM...**_" The Yeti King thought deeply, staring deep into Chip's terrified eyes, and while it saw hints of more information about Sun the Hedgehog, he also realized the reason because the giant beast looked at the awestruck and frightened humans, before turning back to the small pixie. "_**YOU SPEAK THE TRUTH, GUARDIAN WHO YOUR 'FRIENDS' CALL CHIP. YET, NEITHER YOU, OR THIS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG KNOW THE FULL TRUTH BESTOWED OF MY PEOPLE, MY CHILDREN.**_"

"Huh?" Chip blinked, tilting his head slightly to the side.

The Yeti King then turned to some of the smaller Yeti and slowly rose his hand, commanding. "_**BRING SONIC THE HEDGEHOG AND SUN THE HEDGEHOG TO ME. I WISH TO SPEAK TO THEM. YOU ARE NOT TO HARM EITHER ONE, WHETHER THEY ATTACK OUT IN DEFENSE. THEY WOULD COME FOR THE GUARDIAN, AS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG IS THIS SO CALLED HERO OF THE PLANET.**_"

Grunting a 'yes' to obey, four Yetis roared and pounded their chests like apes before leaving to find Sonic and Sun and despite what the Yeti King had said, Chip couldn't help but fear for the worst and instantly felt that he just put the lives of his friends in grave danger.

'_Sonic, Sun...Please be okay. If you guys get hurt or killed, it'll be all my fault._' Chip thought to himself, hoping that his friends would be alright.

He had no idea what was going to happen next, and neither did the three humans who shared uneasy and frightened looks.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sonic and Sun were racing through the cave and searched every tunnel along the way in case they would find any traces of Chip and/or the Yeti that kidnapped him. So far they had no luck and began to feel disoriented and lost. But the cobalt hedgehog refused to give up, determined to save his friend and reach the Temple of Gaia before Eggman did.

None the less, he was growing desperate since he had no idea what the Yeti would do to the little pixie. If only the blue hedgehog had been faster, or had been more careful. While Chip did accidentally cause the Avalanche, Sonic blamed himself for his friend's kidnapping and feared that if he and Sun didn't reach him on time, he could meet the same fate as those who the monster had taken, three in total for the past five years.

'_Chip...please be okay._' Sonic thought pleadingly. '_I promise to get you as much food as you want when we get back to the village. Please don't die on me, buddy!_'

"Where can that stinkin' ugly thing and that squirt be?" Sun grumbled while trying to hold onto both Sonic and his lunch.

"They've gotta be around here somewhere." Sonic replied, skidding to a stop and nearly accidentally threw his other friend over. Thankfully it didn't happen as Sun sighed in relief before recovering. The blue hedgehog looked around. "This place is like a maze."

"I'm gonna go out of the limb here and say that...we're lost." The dark-blue hedgehog deadpanned.

"Well, if even so, I'm not leaving until we find Chip and beat that thing into next week." The teenage hero replied stubbornly. "It's all Kaiser's fault that Sienna and her people had been living in the five year nightmare of that monster attacking their village and kidnapping their own."

"Yeah, trust that Myth-Hunting idiot to do something like this. You said that jerk killed half of Mnyambo's people when they tried to stop him, right?" Sun folded his arms.

Sonic nodded grimly. "Yeah. I still can't believe how cold and cruel that guy is. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't tell who's the biggest monster when it comes to doing horrible things; Eggman or the Myth Hunter."

"You said yourself. There are good people and bad people in the world. Though in retrospect, I think they're both monsters in their own different ways. It's like you told me, everybody's different." Sun pointed out.

Realizing that his friend was right, Sonic nodded in agreement. Suddenly there was a huge massive roar which echoed throughout the cave, which almost made the entire cave shake. It was monstrous and giant, terrifying and seemingly very angry.

"What's that!?" Sonic asked, looking around nervously.

"It sounded too big to simply be the Yeti, unless this cave just echoes it's roar from somewhere close by." Sun stated nervously himself, though the cave didn't give out as much echo, but it was the only logical explanation he could come up with.

The moment Sun said that, Sonic felt his heart beat in fear and horror, dreading the worst outcome. He didn't hear any screaming from Chip, or even cries for help. Colour drained from his face, his stomach and blood freezing up, not due to the cold, but what may have happened.

Silence followed, before they heard more roaring, if not several, coming from behind Sonic who turned around as and Sun stared at the tunnel in front of them in alarm. They heard rapid stomping and running, which made the two hedgehogs on edge. It was then they spotted the shadow shape of a large beast like thing coming around the corner before the Yeti raced in right before their eyes. Sonic and Sun gasped before jumping back and landed on the ground, with the Yeti stopping as well upon seeing them and roared, glaring down at the two hedgehogs who glared back up.

"You...!" Sonic hissed, glaring furiously at the monster who had kidnapped his friend and feared for the worst but made an attempt to calm down. "What have you done to Chip!?"

The Yeti didn't answer, nor did Sonic expect it to. But what really caught him and Sun off-guard was a second Yeti coming up right behind it's companion, gazing down with a glare of what appeared to be suspicion.

"What the?" Sonic asked with a sweat drop. "Another one!?"

Sun and Sonic then heard movement behind them and when they looked to see where they came from, as well as other tunnels, five more Yetis appeared and surrounded the two hedgehogs who were unable to believe what was happening, and quickly found themselves trapped in a circle of the beasts.

"Lots of Yetis!? How can this be?" Sun asked in disbelief.

"What's going on here?" Sonic added, unable to figure out this many of Yetis and wondered if he was having another nightmare. Before he and his friend could react, one of the snow beasts closest to the former grunted to one of it's own who nodded and reached out to grab the blue hedgehog who would've jumped and bashed his way through, but the circle the two were trapped in was too tight and he couldn't risk in leaving Sun behind.

The Yeti grabbed him the same way Sun's Werehog possessed form would and held him in the air and close to it. Sonic cried out as he was held tightly within the monster's grasp.

"SONIC!" Sun screamed out, only to be grabbed from behind by another Yeti in the same way, both he and Sonic brought close to the two monsters' chests. "Hey, get your paws off me, you darn, dirty, Snowman!"

"Hey, let me go!" Sonic shouted, struggling to wriggle his way out of the Yeti's grasp. "Let go of me!"

The Yetis, their mission in locating Sonic and Sun accomplished, began making their way back towards their king, with the two struggling hedgehogs in their grasp, as they both thought they were about to meet the same fate as Chip and the other victims. That thought alone terrified Sonic as he struggled harder to escape. He couldn't even move his legs as the two hands were a bit more than half the size of his entire body.

'_No! No, this can't end like this! Somebody help us!_' Sonic thought desperately, wriggling and grunting.

'_You have got to be kidding me! I thought it was only just one of these things! Unless..._' Sun thought to himself, as a thought came into his mind despite the desperate attempts to escape but like Sonic, found himself trapped.

As Sonic and Sun continued to struggle in a futile attempt to escape, they the Yeti that were carrying them entered the huge chamber followed by five more of their kind. Sonic took this moment to look around and he and the other hedgehog were shocked and bewildered to find thousands more of the Yeti, like a tribe of sorts. All standing in line as though waiting for something. The cobalt hero's eyes widened in disbelief as he never saw anything like it. Looking around as best as he could, he blinked in surprise to find three unfamiliar human children, two teenage girls and one little boy, locked up in a make-shift cage as they noticed their arrival. They wore tattered winter clothes, but there was no mistake of their hair.

'_Are they...the three victims that were kidnapped? If they're still alive, then that means..._' Sonic thought to himself, having thought that the single Yeti at the time had killed the innocent people it had kidnapped in the past five years.

Half thinking he and Sun were about to be locked up along with those children, the two hedgehogs were surprised that they passed the cage and towards the very back of the chamber. They both looked up and their eyes nearly popped out in shock and fear at the sight of the largest Yeti ever, the leader of all Yetis, they both realized.

'_Whoa...He's huge! Is that how big the Yeti get? Then that means these guys are all just kids?_' Sonic thought, yet trying to hold in his fear and instead stared with narrowed eyes. If that was the case, then this thing was the one that roared loudly earlier, even as the Yeti all bowed before their ruler, two still holding him and Sun in their grasp.

The Yeti King stared down at Sonic and Sun who glared at him with an expression that demanded to be let go. The giant beast then waved a hand and softly grunted in Yeti language. "_**NOT QUITE WHAT I HAD IN MIND, BUT BASED ON THE TALES, THE GUARDIAN'S WORDS ARE TRUE. RELEASE THEM.**_"

Under the King's command, the two Yeti that captured Sonic and Sun gently lowered the two hedgehogs and set them down carefully onto the ground, much to their confusion.

"What's going on?" Sonic asked, turning to glance up at the giant Yeti. "What do you want with us?"

"Sonic! Sun!" A familiar chirping voice called out.

Gasping softly at the familiar voice, one he thought for a little while he would never hear again, Sonic looked to the left and saw, to his shock and sudden growing relief, and to Sun's bewilderment, was a very alive Chip who, having been told to wait by the side not too far from where they were, fly over towards them, calling out their names again. Tears of relief filled up the blue hedgehog's eyes.

"Chip! CHIP!" Sonic cried out happily, holding his arms out as Chip flew into his chest and the two reunited friends hugged tightly and happily, the teenager laughing as he held his pixie friend close. "Chip, you're okay! Oh, man! I was really worried!"

"I was worried too, Sonic! The King Yeti was actually kind of nice, and he seems to know a bit more about me. He asked to talk to you after he told him what happened." Chip explained, nuzzling his head against Sonic's chest.

"Huh?" The blue hedgehog muttered, as what his friend said made him and Sun confused. The fifteen year old gazed down at Chip with a raised eyebrow. "Say what?"

"Um...How do you know that, Squirt?" Sun asked, dumbfounded.

"I have no idea, but my necklace was glowing again, and, this is gonna sound crazy, but I think it's helping me to understand what the Yeti are saying." Chip replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly once Sonic loosened his grip on him.

"You understand Yeti?" The two hedgehogs asked, even more puzzled. Well, that was new.

"Yep." Chip nodded.

Sonic blinked, before glancing at the Yeti Leader, then realizing that, given what Chip had said, turned back to his friend and asked. "You told him everything that's going on? About Eggman and the Temples and stuff like that?"

"Even that horrible Myth Hunter, and the King wants to tell us something about what happened five years ago." Chip confirmed.

"This has to be the weirdest year of my entire life." Sun grumbled, scratching his head awkwardly.

Despite being in agreement, Sonic decided that, if what Chip said was true, he should heed his friend's words and turned his attention back to the King, letting go of the pixie and bravely took a couple steps closer as the giant Yeti stared down at the young heroic hedgehog who cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, your majesty. Who are you and what is happening?" Sonic asked as clearly as he could sound with a tone of respect.

"_**HMMM...SO YOU ARE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, HERO OF THE PLANET. I WASN'T EXPECTING YOU TO BE RATHER SMALL AND SCRAWNY. YET YOU HOLD THE HEART AND SOUL OF A TRUE HERO. I AM KORSO, THE FATHER OF ALL OF THE SNOW TRIBE YOUR PEOPLE AND HUMAN BEINGS CALL YETI.**_" The King, named Korso, responded.

"He says that his name is Korso, he and the Yeti are actually called the Snow Tribe and..." Chip trailed off a bit, before shrugging sheepishly and apologetically to Sonic, concluding. "He also said that you're Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of the Planet, but he wasn't expecting you to be small and scrawny, but he can tell you hold the heart and soul of a true hero."

Sun snorted in amusement at the small and scrawny parts.

"Not the first time I've been doubted by that. My speed makes it up for it." Sonic shrugged, not minding in being called small and scrawny. He wasn't really build for muscle, and personality, he didn't care. He then turned to Korso and requested. "Please continue, sir."

Korso nodded, a bit impressed with the teenager's mannerism. "_**VERY WELL. I WAS TOLD FROM THE GUARDIAN YOU CALL CHIP OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED, AND THAT YOU HAVE MET THE FANGED DEMON YOU CALL THE MYTH HUNTER.**_" He said, to which Chip translated to the two hedgehogs who nodded.

"Yeah, we met that guy. He tried to kill my friends Sun and Chip, and even killed half of his own people years ago where he came from. I also know that five years ago he came looking for one of your own and threatened to kill the people of Holoska, who didn't think Yetis, or uh, the Snow Tribe, were real. No offense." Sonic replied.

"_**I SEE. IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE. WE THE SNOW TRIBE HAVE LIVED IN SECRET HARMONY WITH HUMANS FOR CENTURIES. YET IT WAS THAT FAITHFUL DAY THEY HAVE BETRAYED US, LEADING THAT FOUL FANGED DEMON NEAR OUR HOME, AND KILLED ONE OF MY CHILDREN.**_" Korso explained, which Chip translated, even as the last part shocked him and quickly shocked Sonic, Sun and even the three children who for years tried to make sense of the situation, and only now discovered the truth.

"WHAT!?" Sonic and Chip both exclaimed, horrified.

"I knew it. It makes sense." Sun muttered, stepping up to Sonic's right. "Begging your pardon, your lordship, but I'm guessing that since one of your kids were killed by that Myth Hunting Psychopath, you lead your other kids one by one to attack the village and kidnap their children for vengeance. Am I right?"

The giant Yeti growled, before answering, with Chip translating once more. "_**WE SOUGHT NOT TO MURDER, BUT FIND ONE WHO COULD TELL US WHY THEY HAVE LEAD US HERE. IT WAS FEAR FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY THAT HAD ONE OF MY CHILDREN KILLED, I KNOW IT NOW. YET WE COULD NOT FIND ONE WHO WOULD SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE. WE ABDUCTED AND SEARCHED FOR FIVE LONG YEARS. ONLY NOW THE GUARDIAN WHO HAS LOST HIS MEMORIES COULD UNDERSTAND US. YET YOU HAVE DEFENDED THESE HUMANS, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG.**_"

"I'm sure the people of Holoska didn't mean it. They were just as scared of that crazy hunter and couldn't defend themselves. He's extremely dangerous. I'm very sorry that you lost someone really important to you. But please, you have to understand. It wasn't the people's fault who caused it to happen. It was Kaiser the Myth Hunter. He's the one who should pay for his crimes. He has killed many innocent lives. Not just your people, but others as well; humans and Mobians alike. He even hunted down Mobini as a starting point before going on a hunt to prove Myths are facts and then kill them for greed and money. He doesn't care about anyone but himself." Sonic pointed out wholeheartedly.

Sonic then bend onto his knees in a pleading position. "Please, Korso, sir. I beg you. Let these kids go. They don't have anything to do with Kaiser's evil deeds. I will stop him, and I will put an end to his crimes. I promise. You have my word."

Both Sun and Chip, and even the three children, who had tears in their eyes for what has happened yet feeling guilt for their people's misleadings in having caused this because of fear of the evil Cheetah who had caused all the horrors of five years to happen, followed in suit.

The giant Yeti and his kind all stared down at the three moments, absorbing the words Sonic the Hedgehog spoke. Even though they knew not of how to accept this, Korso saw truth in Sonic's eyes, the pleads, sympathy, determination, courage, and promise all at once. There was something about this young hedgehog the Snow Tribe leader seemed to sense; the benevolent heart that beats within Sonic's chest.

While most of the Yeti looked skeptical, Korso nodded and said. "_**VERY WELL, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. UNDER TWO CONDITIONS, IF YOU ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT.**_"

"Anything, sir." Sonic replied readily.

"_**CONTINUE YOUR TASK IN RESTORING THE PLANET, AID THE GUARDIAN YOU CALL CHIP. FIND THE TEMPLES OF GAIA, DEFEAT THE FANG DEMON YOU CALL THE MYTH HUNTER, AND THE MAN WHO SPLIT THE PLANET APART, THE ONE YOU CALL DR. EGGMAN. SHOULD YOU DO SO, WE WILL NO LONGER ATTACK THE VILLAGE.**_" Korso told him firmly.

Smirking confidently now at such an easy-ish task, Sonic stood up and replied. "No problem. That's exactly what we're doin', anyway. We'll fix up the world and put it back the way it was, and stop Eggman like I usually do, and show that killer Cheetah not to mess with us or kill anyone. You have my word!"

"Yeah, and me and Sun will help him all the way!" Chip added.

"I hate Eggman and that idiotic Myth-Hunting creep, so you can count me in." Sun shrugged as he stood up as well.

"_**SECOND CONDITION, TO PROVE YOURSELF WORTHY AND PROVE THAT HUMANITY IS BEST TO BE PROTECTED.**_" Korso continued, to which Chip translated, the latter and the two hedgehogs then beginning to dread the worst.

Sonic raised an eyebrow with a small, nervous sweat drop. "Which is...?"

The answer he and his friends got was the least expected.

"_**YOU, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, SHALL CHALLENGE ME IN A DUEL.**_"

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the lateness of the chapter, but at least it's finally out. And it looks like I was wrong about issue 32 of Sonic IDW comics. *Spoilers Alert* Sonic got his memories back! I am so relieved!**

**Hopefully I won't take as long with the next chapter as more challenges lie ahead before we reach the next Temple of Gaia.**

**See you later!**


End file.
